First Crush
by CrimsonButterfly726
Summary: Spin-off from "Enjoy The Little Things". Ellie gets her first crush, but there's more to the story than that.
1. Meet Alex & Sophia

**Alright before ANYONE reads this. I need to point out a few things.**

**This was originally supposed to be a one-shot drabble in my story "Enjoy the Little Things", but then I wanted to expand on them, but I didn't want to risk the story because of them. So this whole thing is like a spin-off from "Enjoy the Little Things" as its own separate drabble.**

**Also, I know its hard to accept original characters because most times people do it poorly or make it all about the original character in the end. So I'm going to try my best in keeping it still about Joel and Ellie but these two mixed in. Plus it's kind of hard to do story about this without having an original character.**

**These two are what you call people with "dumb luck". We've all these badasses who have survived, but what about the ones who are so naïve and are just lucky? That's who these two are. Sophia was born a year before the outbreak, making her like the last "innocent" I guess? In other words, she's not hardened by everything that's happening around her. While Alex was born during the outbreak, so he resembles more of Ellie in terms of how he acts. **

**I hope you enjoy this and try to keep an open mind. I hope I did the OC thing well. Tell me what you guys think :) Reviews are always helpful.**

**Ok sorry for all that I just needed to get that out there before you read it.**

**I own nothing from "The Last of Us." Just Sophia and Alex. **

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This town was different. Joel could easily tell just by looking at the place. It was quiet, almost peaceful. There wasn't a sign of Infected anywhere. As they walked away from the truck they had gotten back at Bill's, they searched for any kind of car that could, or should be lying in the street or the on sides of it at least. But there was nothing. Ellie mentioned the idea of bandits or something similar to that group they had encountered before getting here, but it didn't seem that way. The place didn't have any sort of barricade or defense trap. As they entered the city and some of the larger buildings started to tower over them the only thing they saw that looked like someone may be here was a white sheet strung up to look as flag with the letter "A" and "S" painted it in red.

"I sure hope that's paint." Ellie commented as she stared up at it.

"Let's just find some cars." Joel replied as he looked away from it; this place gave me a really bad feeling.

As they walked deeper into the town, they noticed that weren't any booby traps, or signs that read "get out" or "death for freedom". It looked almost clean, minus the dead bodies and old faded graffiti. No matter where they looked, there was not a car in sight, and if there was one it was too rusted and too planted by the growing foliage to use. Ellie's whistling was the only sounded that echoed through the alleyways of the buildings. Eventually Joel stopped in front of a building that read "Town Hall" in big letters. He wiggled on the handle but it was locked. Ellie immediately stopped whistling and looked straight at Joel.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she whispered loudly as if suddenly there were people nearby lurking in the shadows.

"I'm just gonna see if there is anythin' to find." He replied as he stuck his shiv into the lock and popped it popped it open, but destroying it in the process.

"If something pops out at you and I die of a heart attack, it's all on you." Ellie said nervously as poked her head from the side.

"I'll be fine. Just wait here."

"Fuck no I'm not waiting out here by myself." She quickly followed in behind him.

The inside was dark and dirty, just like every other building they've ever entered. Various papers were scattered on the floor along with the bodies of both infected and humans. Yet, all of them had something either covering their whole body or just their face. Ellie noticed this first as Joel searched the area. Something wasn't right here. That's when the sound of soft quiet dark clicks broke the silence. Ellie's eyes opened wide as she held her breath. Her heart was beating hard and fast as she slowly turned her head to the Clicker just inches away from her. Her eyes opened wide as her breath got caught in her throat. Joel was on the other side of the room, still looking through drawers in order to find something useful. Ellie tried to get Joel's attention by waving her flashlight around but it didn't make him look back. He was probably just thinking she was just being normal, since she looked through things very quickly and always wanted to illuminate everything around her. Knowing that Joel wasn't going to be much help, she threw her flashlight across the room, which made a loud clinking noise. She heard the Clicker turn its head and follow the source of the noise. Joel turned at the noise and saw the Clicker walking away from Ellie, who looked like she just shit her pants. Joel quickly moved behind the Clicker and stabbed it in the head and gently placing it down on the floor. He held up his hand to Ellie as he searched the rest of the area of hidden Clickers and Infected. When the coast was clear, Ellie let out her breath loudly and yelled out to the empty.

"What the fuck Joel?!"

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Joel asked as he looked her over.

"Aside from shitting my pants… totally fine." Ellie sighed as she grabbed her switchblade out of her pocket and held it tightly in hand.

Joel quickly led her out of the building and back into the sunlight. There was now Infected walking around outside. They ducked behind the solid gate as Joel reached for one of his guns. But then he remembered that he was out of ammo for almost every gun he had. Ellie looked above the top of the gate and then ducked her head.

"Hurry Joel." She whispered as she heard one of them slugging over to them.

He checked his pistol. There were only twelve rounds left. If he timed it right and only went after the ones that came after him or Ellie, they should be able to make it out here. He looked over to Ellie who had taken out her pistol as well.

"How many rounds you got?"

"Ten."

Damn it, that's still not enough, he thought to himself as he counted the increased number of Infected that were coming into the area. Where the hell were they all coming from? From the other side of town maybe? It didn't matter; they needed supplies so they couldn't just abandon this place. He gave Ellie a signal to move and they jumped out of their hiding spot and ran towards one of the buildings that looked like an old dancing hall. They just needed to get over there and figure out the rest from there. Ellie shot three rounds at three Infected that charged at her. She now had seven rounds. Joel shot two; he was now with ten. They were starting to come at full force from the sounds of gunshots. Ellie had shot the rest of her rounds from saving herself and Joel from close calls. Her gun was useless. He ran back to Ellie and stayed closer as he shot at the rest of the Infected. They all fell around them and just it was just enough to kill them all and use all of Joel's rounds.

"Alright, we should probably start searchin' for ammo before anythin' else got it?"

"Yeah yeah I got—Joel!" Ellie shouted.

There was a lone Infected that had charged at Joel, toppling him over in the process. He held him away with hand as he tried to fight him off. Ellie once again pulled out her switchblade and ran to Joel's aid. But she was too late.

He wasn't bitten, but saved. A loud gunshot came from the side of them and shot the Infected straight in the side of the head. It fell over instantly. Ellie stopped in her tracks as Joel shoved the rotting corpse off of him. He looked to Ellie who shook her head, by showing him the only able weapon she had was her switchblade. That's when they heard a cry of victory come from the same area the shot was fired. They turned to see a rifle propped up on a windowsill and a soft fist raise into the air. The mysterious savior lifted their head up to reveal that it was a girl with softly curled light brown hair and deep blue eyes. She poked her head out of the window and looked down to a boy who was sitting up against the wall. He, unlike his female companion, had jet black hair and green eyes that were darker than Ellie's. The girl giggled as she smiled confidently.

"How was that?"

The boy held up a plank of wood that had the number nine drawn in red paint.

"What the hell no way! That was such a ten and you know it!" She frowned.

"You would've gotten a nine if you didn't almost shoot that guy." The boy shrugged.

"Whatever dumbass I know that was a ten. He's still breathing and I shot that stupid thing right in the head. It was perfect." She threw a pebble at his head.

As these two were having their argument, Ellie helped Joel up from the ground as they looked to them. They weren't a threat; they seemed too erratic and stupid to be considered harmful. Ellie put away her blade as she watched the bicker over something that seemed off to her.

"What should we do?" She asked Joel quietly.

"Ask them if they have anything? They don't seem like they'll hurt us."

Joel cleared his throat loudly.

"Excuse me!"

The two stopped their fighting as they looked up at the same time over to Joel. The girl hopped over the windowsill and jogged over to them. She wore a solid dark pink t-shirt that had dirt and faded blood spots, dark blue jean shorts that had small holes on the sides, and hiking boots. She stopped a few feet away with a smile on her face.

"You're welcome for saving you. My name is Sophia and that lazy ass over there is my little brother Alex." She introduced them as if it was a proud thing to know them.

Alex waved once before dropping his hand back on his knees. He wore torn faded blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and converse. He seemed quiet as he pulled out his own pistol and looked it over, while his sister made all the introductions. Ellie looked over to him curiously.

"You want me to thank you? You almost blew my fuckin' head off!"

"But you're still alive yes?" Sophia countered.

This girl was going to get on Joel's nerves, he could just feel it. Ellie on the hand chuckled as she waved her hand.

"I'm Ellie."

"Well nice to meet ya Ellie," Sophia smiled widely, "at least someone has some decent manners." She shot a look to Joel just shook his head and folded his arms across his chest.

"Look, we just needed to find some supplies and we'll be on our way. Do ya have any or not?"

"Damn pushy. Yes we have some; plenty actually. You guys don't look so hot. Come with us and we'll give you anything you need. Alex! Get their bags will ya?" she called behind her as she motioned them to follow.

Alex rolled his eyes as he stood and offered to take their stuff. Ellie handed him hers but kept her pistol, while Joel just shot the kid a look and he turned away quickly and ran to catch up with his sister. Joel and Ellie walked behind them slowly.

"You trusted them so quickly," Ellie commented after awhile as they walked slower so they wouldn't hear, but they seemed too immersed in their own conversation, "Why? It's a bit unlike you."

"They are just a bunch of stupid kids who are naive and have too much dumb luck; might as well take advantage." He replied as he looked straight ahead.

The boy named Alex turned back to look at Ellie and smiled at her. She looked down quickly as she pulled out her switchblade and began messing with it. Joel raised an eyebrow at Ellie's sudden change behavior.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"Nope. Nothing." She replied quickly.

She felt weird. Maybe she was just hungry. Now all she was hoping for was to find some food. They followed them until they were walking in a neighborhood and stopped right in front of a two story house made of dark red bricks. Joel looked at Ellie who just shrugged. They didn't seem harmless right? What could go wrong just gathering supplies and staying for a night? If they knew what events were going to happen after tonight, they would've never agreed to stay for the night.


	2. Get-to-know-ya Brunch

**Hello one and all :)**

**Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad you guys took to them well.**

**Ok so this is the last chapter that has a direct continuation from the first. After this one, it's just going to be little drabbles about their time here and not to mention the cute fluffy love xD **

**Again for the sake of this chapter, kind of step away from the realism. I tried to fill in the holes as best as I could but...**

**Anyways, enjoy and tell me what you think :) I hope I'm still doing this OC thing well. **

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It was the smell of food that woke her up. She opened her eyes slowly as her vision started to focus. She moved her legs to stretch out and it felt like she was on a cloud. But the ground has never felt this comfortable. Then she remembered the two siblings they had met yesterday and how they offered them this room to sleep in. She turned to Joel who was still in the same position that he fell asleep in last night. He must've e missed sleeping on an actual bed more than she did. The door creaked open and a head poked inside quietly. It was the boy from yesterday. She couldn't really remember his name though because he was quiet compared to his loud older sister. His hair looked slightly askew along with his sleep shirt and red checkered sweats. He moved the stray hairs out of his eyes as Ellie sat up, smoothing her hair down. Wait why the hell was doing that? She put her hands down awkwardly and yawned.

"What's that smell?" she asked as she sniffed the air again.

"My sister thought it would be nice to treat you guys to some actual food… and she wants to sorry to your, as she put it 'large, scary friend' over there." Alex sighed as he rolled his eyes.

Ellie laughed quietly as she heard Joel snore loudly before going back to even breathing. He wasn't that scary. She yawned one more time as she scratched the back of her head. With the door now propped open the smell of whatever was cooking downstairs was making Ellie's mouth water and making her stomach growl loudly. She held it quickly as if it was going to quiet it down as she felt heat go to her face. Alex chuckled as he turned to leave.

"Don't bother coming downstairs; we'll bring it up to you guys." Alex closed the door quietly.

As the door clicked closed, Ellie looked over to Joel who looked like he was starting to wake up. He looked around confused.

"What time is it?"

"Not dawn, I can tell you that." Ellie replied as she moved the curtain that was covering a window next to her temporary bed.

"Somethin' smells good at least." Joel commented to the aroma that was still hanging in the air.

It had been the first time that Joel was inside a house since the day Tess got him and started this whole adventure with Ellie. It felt nice to sleep on an actual bed and thick enough blanket to keep him warm at night. But they couldn't stay for long; they needed to get a move on and get to Tommy's. But before he could even start explaining the plan to Ellie, the door burst open with Sophia holding a tray of four plates of food. On them were fluffy scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and golden pancakes. She was wearing black shorts and a red tank top with her hair in a messy high ponytail. Alex followed in behind her with orange juice, and the items to dress their pancakes. His face looked embarrassed as he waited for Sophia, making Ellie laugh quietly to herself.

"Goooodmorning~!" she sang.

Joel grimaced as he put one head to his forehead. He had just woken up and was not in the mood for Sophia's loud personality. When she saw his face changed she immediately quieted herself and smiled apologetically.

"Oops, I mean gooooodmorning." She said with a quieter inside voice.

She set the tray down in the center of the room as Ellie climbed out of her bed with an excited look.

"Wow this looks amazing; did you make all this?" She looked to Sophia.

"Yes so you better like it. I don't usually cook this stuff."

"In other words, she has never cooked this stuff before." Alex chimed in as he set down his tray and sat next to Ellie.

"…Shut up." Sophia glared at her younger brother who only shrugged.

He offered a plate to his new friend, who took it gladly as she looked over everything. Everything was still steaming and looked edible enough. Sophia sat down on the opposite side of the teenagers as she offered a plate up to Joel. He looked down to her with still the same look on his face.

"I just wanted to say sorry for… y'know almost blowing off your head." She smiled apologetically.

Joel sighed. It's not like she was trying to kill him. She was just a stupid kid who got lucky. He moved the covers off and slid down next to Sophia as he took the plate. She smiled widely with victory as she took her own plate. At first there was silence; Joel and Ellie hadn't eaten in days, only picking off from small squirrels here and there. Alex looked over to Sophia who just shrugged as they tried to think of something to say. They hadn't had anyone roll through their town in months, just some stray Infected and small groups of bandits. Joel kept his eyes on Ellie, who had almost finished eating. Finally, Sophia put down her plastic fork and looked up.

"Soo… what brings you guys here? Are you lost or something?"

"We're just passin' through." Joel replied with half of his mouth full.

"That's bullshit." Alex said suddenly.

Sophia stopped in mid-chew, while Ellie looked over to him with wide eyes. Normally she was the one to call out her companion's lies or when he was putting up a front. But she didn't think anyone would else, especially some kid they both met. Joel didn't make any movements or any facial changes. He didn't have to explain himself to him. Sophia cleared her throat as she swallowed the rest of her food.

"Alex…"

"No it is and you know it; there isn't anything around here for miles. This town is in the middle of nowhere so either you're lost or in some pretty fucked up situation—

"Alex. Enough," Sophia said more sternly, "I don't blame you for not trusting us but we're harmless and you must think the same thing or you wouldn't have agreed to stay right? And you guys obviously need supplies or you wouldn't be wandering over in these parts yes?"

"Well… we do need some ammo. Do you guys have any of that?" Ellie spoke up.

"We probably have whatever you want. I'll take you guys to the storehouse where we keep all this stuff."

This grabbed Joel's attention. Who knows how much stuff these two had in storage; probably more than ever needed. Although Joel was still on guard in case some hidden groups members popped out and they were just a distraction, it started to leave his mind the more he had looked between the two. Their eyes still held kindness and gentleness; it was as if the whole thing around them didn't affect them one bit. Some would call it luck that they were still this way. Joel called it weak. He then nodded his head as he stood up.

"We have a truck right outside of your town. Do ya think you could help bringin' it in?"

Sophia nodded as she also stood up and smiled.

"Awesome. I'll help you push it. Alex, you and… Ellie stay here and clean up this mess, yes?" Sophia instructed while trying to remember the new teenager's name.

Alex just shrugged as Ellie looked at Joel in protest.

"Joel…" She said in slight nervousness; she didn't like being away from him for too long.

"It'll be fine. We won't be gone long. Sophia?" Joel motioned for her to lead the way.

As they walked out of the room, she pulled out a handgun and threw it to Alex who caught it with one hand while still looking down at his plate. Before Ellie could protest about being left without a gun, Sophia tossed her the spare and winked at her. They left the house and started walking towards the truck in the cool morning air. As soon as the door clicked closed from downstairs, Alex let out a loud sigh as he piled the dirty dishes on one tray. Ellie moved to help him but he raised his hand and shook his head.

"I'll do this. She just wanted to keep you here and talk to me."

"Why does she want that?" Ellie asked as she took the other tray and held the door open.

"She thinks it would be cool if I made friends with you. I guess so that I have someone other than her to talk to." He replied as he walked out and slowly went downstairs.

Once they were at the final bottom step, Ellie finally took a good look at the place. It looked in good shape considered the twenty year gap. They walked into the kitchen which was completely destroyed with the sink and stove rusted up. In an open area where she assumed a table used to be, was a two wash basins; one with clean water, the other with a few used dishes in the water. Next to them was a small barbeque pit with burnt sticks underneath the griddle. Elli put the tray next to the dirty wash basin while Alex started cleaning them. It was quiet for a while until Ellie saw a stack of comic books, sitting on the floor.

"Whoa you read these?" Her eyes lit up as she skimmed through ones that she's already read.

"Yeah, my sister will sometimes find them in rooms around the neighborhood. You read them too?" Alex chuckled as he cleaned off the plates.

"Yes! They aren't that bad of a read right?" she said excited.

"I know! My sister won't read them but I think they are amazing; you can read the ones you haven't read yet if you want."

Ellie looked over to her newly found friend and smiled. He grinned back and for a moment, the identical green eyes locked. Ellie felt something in her stomach and she quickly looked away. Maybe she was starting to feel gassy? She quickly started looking through the pages of she had already read to make herself look busy. Alex smiled to himself as he went back to cleaning.

Meanwhile on the outside skirts of the town, Joel and Sophia just walked in silence towards the only working truck for miles. Sophia put her hands behind her back as she took a breath of fresh air. Joel just looked forward, not really paying attention to her.

"So… your name is Joel?" she asked randomly.

He looked her from the corner of his eyes and nodded.

"It's just… you never told me your name yesterday, that's all." She tried to keep up the one-sided conversation.

"So where do you guys keep all your supplies?" He asked, changing the subject.

"In a storehouse on the other side of town; that's where all the cars are too."

"Oh yeah, I was gonna ask you were all of those were. So I'm guessin' you and your brother moved all of them?"

"Yes sir. It took almost two weeks but we managed to get them all in one place."

"What about Infected? There doesn't seem to any of those 'round here neither."

"Another long project; we've gotten most of them, but a few still pop up."

When the truck was within view, they started to pick up the pace. Joel looked over to her again and began to wander why these two decided to stay in one place by themselves? Why not go out and find other people to join so they weren't so alone all the time. But it wasn't any of his business and he wasn't going to start getting close to people that they going to leave in about an hour or so. They got behind the rusted truck and started pushing it slowly up into the town. Because of all the cars she had pushed in the past, they managed to get it to the storehouse in no time. Sophia then opened the garage door to the storehouse, revealing more items that Joel could've imagined. Boxes upon boxes of ammo, guns, gallons of water, food ranging from canned to the stuff the military would eat. He blinked twice as he looked back at the girl, who moved her hands like she was presenting a prize.

"How in the hell did you get all this?"

"This neighborhood had a bunch of hoarders and those people who were preparing for this their whole lives." She replied as she started handing him some ammo.

"And the military?"

"They were here for a while but then Infected took them over and this place was so bad, that they just abandoned it; the same thing happened with bandits and other groups who once came through here."

Joel didn't ask any more questions as they loaded up the truck. The sooner they got out here and back on track to Tommy's, the sooner he could put this whole mess behind him. Although he still wasn't sure how he was supposed to do that yet. Once they tied everything together, Joel and Sophia hopped in the truck and started it up.

But it didn't make the sound life that Joel was hoping for. It was made a dead noise. Joel kept turning it over and over again but it still made the same dead noise. Joel couldn't believe this. The battery was dead. When he jumped out and looked over the engine, he noticed that other parts were starting to smoke and didn't look they were going to hold out long. He slammed the hood down hard pulled on the ends of his hair in frustration. Bill didn't do that good of a job after all. Damn asshole, Joel thought. Sophia jumped out and followed behind Joel.

"Look it's not that big of a deal."

"Maybe to you but we need to get out here. But with the battery dead—

"I have a junkyard full of cars with gas, parts, and batteries; remember when I said the military was here once? Well they had left their cars here too and I can tell that they for sure have working batteries," Sophia interrupted, "Look, just stay here until you get this thing up and working again; it doesn't bother us and I would rather keep you guys here than go out there with half of this stuff. Please?"

Joel took a deep breath and nodded.

"Fine; we'll stay here until this is all done and then we are gone." Joel said firmly.

Sophia raised her hands above her head and giggled.

"Fine fine."

With that being settled, they left the truck and walked back to the house. Alex and Ellie were sitting on the floor next to each, reading the latest edition of their comic book. Occasionally, Ellie would turn to her friend who was completely focused on what was happening on the pages. She started to feel that strange feeling in her stomach. She kept trying debunking it and saying that she was hungry or she needed to use the restroom, but she knew that that wasn't it.

It was butterflies; small ones but butterflies all the same.


	3. Pictures

**Alright from this point on, so I don't have to keep repeating myself, just don't take these situations too realistic; these are supposed to be cute and whatnot.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter :) More to come soon.**

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They had been there for three days now, but it felt like a lot longer. Sophia and Alex had helped them settle into what was now their room in the two story house. Ellie was very happy to find that were going to be staying for a few days. Joel didn't realize how tired she looked until he saw that wave of relief wash over her face. She had immediately fell to the side and knocked out. Joel picked her up and laid her gently on the couch while Alex picked up the comic and set them back on the table. That's how it went for the first three days. Sophia would make them breakfast, they would chat, then Alex and Ellie would go read more comics or play darts, even nap sometimes, while Sophia and Joel would wander off to the junkyard and collect the parts that they needed in order to fix the truck. At first Joel thought it would've been better to bring Alex along instead, but he didn't want to take away Ellie's new friend even though he had this protective feeling come over him whenever he felt like they standing too close to each other.

On this day, once Joel and Sophia had left to work on the truck, Alex took Ellie to their garage, where they had started digging through boxes. They had found stuff to old clothes with stupid sayings and half naked women printed on them. Ellie took one of the shirts and rolled her eyes.

"What was with that time and women?"

"Sophia said that it was because everyone was, again as she put it 'horny little bastards'. I think they just had nothing better to do." Alex said as he kept digging through other boxes.

"Speaking of her, how does she know all of this stuff?" Ellie asked as she moved one of the boxes.

"Oh, she would hear all these stories from our parents and the teenagers at the time."

"Would you wear any of this shit?" she asked when she looked over the shirt again.

"Oh hell no; I think I would a little bit more respectable to my female peers. Plus, with Sophia as my sister, I wouldn't really have a choice." Alex poked his head from one of the boxes and flashed a smile.

Ellie laughed as she threw the shirt to the side. She could feel the butterflies come back as she looked at his smile. She liked how genuine it was; even though she was the only one who really saw it, which made her feel sort of special in a way. Finally, Alex had found what he was looking for, but falling into the box in the process. Ellie jogged over to check on him, but he raised something up in the air as if it was gold. It was an old school Polaroid camera. It looked dusty but still looked like it was good condition. Alex climbed out of the box with a big smile on his face. Ellie looked down at it confused.

"What's that?"

"You're kidding right?" Alex asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ellie felt a small blush of embarrassment creep over her face as she tried to think about it. Alex just chuckled and waved his hand.

"Don't worry I was just jokin'; It's an old camera. You just snap the picture and it comes out." He explained as he held the camera up in front of him and snapped a picture.

The picture came out from the bottom and Alex held it at the white end of the film. When looked it over, she frowned. It was just a light grey block. But as she looked closer, she noticed the image of Alex coming into view until it mirrored the exact spot where he had taken, when his genuine smile in full view. Ellie looked on in amazement as the picture changed from the grey to an actual image, making Alex, chuckle at her. She looked absolutely adorable to him at that moment, and he himself could start to feel something small flutter around in his stomach. He cleared his throat in order to find something to distract himself with. Ellie looked up curiously and smiled.

"That's awesome."

"I know. Sophia is going to have a whale of a time when I tell her I found this. And to make things better, there is some extra film in here, so we can lots of pictures… Will you take one with me?" He asked hesitantly.

Ellie slowly nodded as he got closer to her and held the camera in front of them. They both smiled as the flash captured the image and printed out the picture. She felt her face feel warm as he put his arm around her to take the picture. Once they broke apart, Alex held the picture and started waving it around in order to make it dry faster. When he held up the photo to Ellie, it was the exact image. She took it from him and couldn't help but smile.

"You can keep that one if you want." He offered.

She nodded as she held it carefully, not wanting to ruin it. Alex packed up the rest of the boxes and kept the camera in his hand. He opened the door for Ellie, as she walked inside and put the photo on the small chipped wooden table, next to the increasing number of comic books that Sophia and, now Joel, would find around the neighborhood. Alex put the extra boxes of film he had found on the table as well. He then picked up the camera and made a silly face; the camera flashed and captured the shot.

"Alright; now time for the best part of having one of these around!" He chuckled as he overlooked the photo, "Making funny faces and making a fool of yourself."

Ellie giggled and the front door opened, revealing an annoyed Joel and an overly excited Sophia. She walked in first with a big smile on her face, as if she had won something, while Joel just shook his head as his brows furrowed. Ellie couldn't help but laugh at Joel's expression. It seemed that no matter when those two were together, he always seemed annoyed or tired from her. Yet he never asked for a change in partners for fixing the truck. He always just let Sophia tag along.

"What's wrong?" Ellie half smiled, already ready to hear Sophia's amazing one-up on her companion.

"He's just mad because I was right and he was wrong." Sophia smirked as she turned back to Joel.

"You jus' got lucky on that one." Joel said in a tired voice.

"Oh whatever grumpy gills, you were so mad when you realized I was right after having a whole argument about me being wrong." She giggled while Joel looked through his backpack for something in order to make Sophia get off the subject.

When she turned to her brother and looked down to what was in his hand, her blue eyes lit up as she pranced over to him.

"Is this what I think it is?" she asked, with her eyes sparkling.

"Yeah; me and Ellie found it while we were searching through those old boxes in the garage."

"Gimme gimme gimme!" she opened and closed her hands like a child.

Alex chuckled as he handed the camera over. Sophia immediately started taking selfies of her; some were of her smile while others were ridiculous. She then grabbed Alex and started taking a few pictured with him, before looking over to Ellie and raising both eyebrows. Ellie couldn't help but laugh as she walked over to Sophia and snapped a few pictures with her. Ellie was glad to finally have a girl around, even if she did act immature at times. As the three teenagers were playing and messing around with the camera, Joel decided to take this time to craft med kits and spare bombs. Even though there haven't seen anything threatening ever since they've been here, it was just a force of habit. He then felt something tug on his arm and looked up to find Ellie who was trying to get him to get up. Sophia was seen from the corner of his eye holding up the camera.

"Oh no Ellie, I'm not—

But Ellie wasn't going to listen to his reasoning this time. With the help of Sophia, who pranced over to pull him up, they all gathered around Joel and took one big group photo, followed by one of him and Ellie, and so on. They took all kinds of pictures until there were just a few slots of film left. Ellie then took the camera and had Sophia and Joel stand together. While she looked very happy next to him, Joel just looked awkward. Ellie put down the camera and gave him a look.

"Come on, at least act like you like her." Alex called out as he read through a comic book.

Joel looked over to the girl next to him, who smiled widely. He sighed as he put an arm around her and gave an awkward smile, similar to the one he gave when he took the picture with Ellie. The shot was captured and slid out like all the others. Joel immediately broke away, making Sophia giggle. They laid all the photos out on the table while they waited for them to dry. The rest of the night was spent with laughing and eating from cans. Alex and Ellie were having a debate over their comic, while Sophia was taunting Joel about how she always seemed to one-up him in a lot of their arguments lately. Once Sophia thought it was time for everyone to get some shut eye, she offered to her new friends some of the pictures that they took today. And with that, Sophia and Alex went upstairs to their room, leaving Joel and Ellie alone downstairs.

"They aren't as bad as you thought huh?" Ellie commented as she looked over the many photos on the table.

"Come on; let's get some sleep." He responded.

That night while Joel was fast asleep, Ellie turned to the side and looked over the photos that she had taken from the table; the group photo of all four of them and the one of her and Alex before Sophia and Joel came home. It made her smile every time she looked at it. She yawned and fell back asleep with the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. While she didn't notice it, but Joel had taken some as well; the one of him and Ellie, and the one of him and Sophia; he would never admit but Sophia was starting to grow on him, in the same way Ellie had done before.

In the other room, Alex was tossing and turning restless until he lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling.

"Sophia? You awake?" he asked quietly.

Sophia waved her hand tired and grunted to show she was listening.

"I really like those guys."

"Me too…" Sophia replied while yawning as she fell back asleep.

Alex chuckled as he turned back over and dreamed of all of them being able to stay together… especially being able to stay with Ellie.


	4. Hunting Games

**Hello one and all :)**

**Sorry this kind of took a while. This was supposed to be a completely different chapter but then it ended being something I didn't like for that particular drabble, so I just renamed it and kept going from there.**

**I hope you guys like this one, I had a lot of fun writing it. Cute fluffy subtle moments from everyone.**

**Again I hope my OC's are doing well :)**

**As always tell me what you think. You guys are always so nice and positive and I really appreciate all your kind words. :)**

**Another thing, a special shoutout to the fabulous author Luciferine or inspiring a certain part of the story :D She knows which part :D**

**Enjoy!**

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Sophia went to the truck by herself this morning. She had gotten up earlier than everyone else and decided to go and take an early morning walk. It almost didn't surprise her that she would end up at the truck. She had been taking the same route for almost a week that it almost felt routine. Everything was the way Joel and she had left it; tools were still spread out all around one side of the truck with various parts in the back. It was coming along nicely; slower than she thought Joel had anticipated, but nicely still. But something was starting to eat at her. She didn't know what it was though. The closer and closer they got to fix the truck, the closer it would mean that Joel and Ellie would be gone. Things were going to be quiet again. Maybe that's why she started trying to distractions for Joel so they didn't finish so soon. Part of her felt bad about it, yet the other felt no shame. What's wrong with trying to keep your friends along longer? Her brother had started talking about asking if they could join them in finding the Fireflies, but Sophia always dodged the question. She told him that they would talk about it later, but they both knew that they never were. Not until it became more apparent that their time with Joel and Ellie was starting to run low. She heard dragging footsteps coming from behind her. She quietly pulled out her knife and turned her head slowly. When she saw the low auburn pony tail she withdrew it and turned around with a smile.

"Goodmorning Ellie!" she said in a chipper voice.

"When I didn't smell food, I got worried about you." Ellie yawned as she rubbed her right eye.

Thanks, Ellie, way to make me loved, Sophia thought as she shook her head, making her curls bounce.

"Is Joel up yet?" Sophia asked as she stepped away from the truck

"He's still asleep. I think he wanted to take the day off from fixing it and sleep in for once." Ellie shrugged as she pulled her ponytail tighter.

"Ohhh… is he now…?" Sophia put her hands together, smiling evilly.

Ellie didn't have time to respond as Sophia quickly linked arms with her started walking back to the house. Ellie didn't like where this was going especially since that smile on Sophia's face was starting to creep her out. Meanwhile, back in the quiet two story abode, Alex had been trying to wake Joel up ever since Ellie said she was going out to find his sister. He knew his sister well; too damn well and knew Joel was going to be in for it if he wasn't up by the time Sophia got back. He thought this was going to be easy but damn, this dude slept like a rock! Would he even hear a Clicker if it walked by right now? He had tried everything; shaking him, calling out his name, claiming that Ellie was set on fire. He even tried making Clicker noises and movements, but it was a complete fail and did nothing to Joel's sleeping. All it proved was that if Alex were to be turned into a Clicker, he would sound like a dying frog and just look like a dead boy with a horrible spazzing problem.

"Seriously?! How the hell did you survive all this time?!" he yelled as he raised his hands up in surrender.

He could hear loud giggling from the front overgrown lawn, which made him try and work harder, but it was no use. He was really going to hate this morning.

"Ooooohhh Jooooel! Waaakey Waaakey!" Sophia sang up to the broken window.

Joel stirred, but it wasn't enough to send him flying. He just tiredly waved his hand and went right back to sleep. Sophia put her hands on her hips and gave Ellie another villainous smile.

"He's underestimating me; a poor decision Joel, a poor decision indeed." She sighed and shook her head before looking up and picking her head up sharply.

She ran towards the front door, making her fifteen year old brother leap into action in protecting Joel by running downstairs in order to stop her. Sophia went into the torn living room and grabbed a dusty bullhorn before heading up the creaking steps. Ellie followed quickly behind her, curious and a little concerned as to what she was planning to do to Joel. When she got to the top, she was stopped by her brother who was guarding the second floor by having his body outstretched to the adjacent walls.

"Come on Sophia; don't you think you're going to take this too far? Just let the ol' man sleep!"

"There is no sleeping in here in the city of Alex and Sophia land!" Sophia yelled with confidence. "…Unless said Alex and Sophia are sleeping in themselves!" she declared after giving some thought and raised the bull horn in the air.

She then shoved Alex out of the way and into the left wall as she pranced into Joel and Ellie's room. Ellie stood in front of Alex and put out a hand to help him up. He took it and stood up with ease. The second she felt his skin touch hers, she felt her heart skip a beat and heat rush to her face. She pulled her hand back quickly and turned to the room quickly so he wouldn't see her face. He looked at her confused but smiled anyway. They opened the door to see Sophia overlooking the sleeping Joel as she batted her eyes and smiled as if she was looking at an infant.

"Awww… he's so cute when he sleeps… it would be a shame if something… woke him up." Her blue eyes shot over to Alex and Ellie.

Alex's eyes looked over to the utterly confused Ellie and quickly put his hands over her ears. She looked at him and was about to ask what the hell was going on, but he just shook his head and shut his eyes tight, as if waiting for some sort of impact. Ellie looked over to Sophia as she pulled the bullhorn up to her mouth and took in a deep breath before turning it on. For as long as Joel and Ellie were, she wanted to spend every minute with them, from the time she woke up, to the time she went to sleep. She still didn't know why the exact reason still, but she could always find out later.

"GOOOOOOODMORNIN' JOEL~! IT'S A BEEEA-U-TI-FUL DAY HERE IN THE CITY OF ALEX AND SOPHIA LAND! Temperatures are slowly dropping to the upcoming fall season but THAT'S OK!" she yelled into the bullhorn.

Joel woke with a jolt as he jumped from his bed and almost onto the floor. The loud squeaking from the bullhorn made Ellie instinctively put her hands over Alex's ears as they both squeezed tighter in order to try and drown out the noise. Joel looked up at Sophia with a hard and tired stare; if looks could kill… But Sophia kept on going, yelling random things into the bullhorn as if she was some kind of morning news reporter. She then turned to Alex and pointed.

"Annnnd now it's time for our morning anthem! Ready ONE TWO THREE GO!"

Alex looked around confused before taking his hands from the sides of Ellie's warm face and starting beating on his chest for a makeshift drum.

"And Ellie! ….Be Ellie!" Sophia then pointed to the fourteen year old.

Ellie didn't have any sort of cue, so she just put her hands on hips and smiled big, making Alex chuckle under his breath. Before Sophia could start singing God knows what, Joel yanked the bullhorn away from her and threw it behind him.

"The hell kinda drugs are you on girl?" he asked as he put a hand to his forehead.

"B12 motha fucka!" she yelled; she was loud even without the bullhorn.

"B12? Where did you get that from?" Alex suddenly chimed in when he realized he never heard of that one before.

"I don't know, I read it somewhere on one of those prescription bottles and—

"Is there any reason why you had to wake me up?" Joel asked, cutting Sophia off.

"Because it's morning. Duh?" she turned to him.

Joel didn't have the energy for this. Sophia saw that in the way he got up and the way his eyes looked. She felt a little bad and looked over to Alex who only shrugged and Ellie went over to Joel and began to ask how he was. Suddenly an idea popped into Sophia's head and she snapped her fingers. Alex already knew what she was thinking and retreated from the room. She turned to Joel with an apologetic smile on her.

"Y'know what? I'm sorry for waking you up, but I just like hanging out with you guys. We don't have company… like ever. But you do have the right to sleep in; so I'll make a deal with you Mr. Joel." Sophia winked.

Joel's brown eyes darted toward her as he waited to hear her proposal.

"If you can beat me at my hunting game, then you can sleep in all you want tomorrow."

Joel raised an eyebrow and thought about it. Hunting game? Well that should be an easy win. And it would be a way let out some steam from how much Sophia has had him running up the wall lately. He only gave one nod before stopping himself by the sound of Ellie's voice.

"What happens when you win?"

Sophia smiled a sly smile before putting a finger to her chin and thought for a moment. What would be something that would make Joel work so hard that he couldn't let himself lose. Her eyes looked around the room and noticed the old guitar sitting in the corner of the room. She then remembered one of the conversations Joel and Ellie had one morning during breakfast. How could she possibly forget?

"Joel has to sing for us."

Ellie's eyes lit up as Joel's face never changed. He just looked over to her with a stern "no" look on his face. Ellie looked over to what soon going to be her new best friend if she won this.

"What's the matter Joel? Stage fright?"

"You gotta be kiddin' me."

"If you're so confident in the way you shoot, like Ellie has told me in many stories, then should be easy. Deal?" Sophia stuck out her hand.

She was right; this should be something easy and simple for Joel. After everything he had been through over the twenty years and then some; this should be a walk in the park. He took Sophia's hand and shook it. This made her smile widely and run out of the room, yelling something to her brother. Joel and Ellie were alone in the room now. It was interesting for them since they hadn't really been by themselves ever since they've been here. It was quiet except for the sudden slamming of the door and the rushing footsteps of Sophia's feet. Ellie let out a loud sigh and sat down on her unmade bed.

"I think Sophia's gonna kick your ass." She finally says.

"You wish; well let's get a move on, and see where she ran off to." Joel motions for Ellie to follow.

As they stepped outside, it wasn't as hot as it used to be. Hot enough to make one sweat on the back on their neck, but had a cool breeze to cool it off. They walked along the broken road towards the storehouse, where Joel was almost sure they were waiting at. Ellie was whistling the whole time there. While normally this would annoy Joel when they were on the road, it was nice to hear her so calm and relaxed. There were even some nights where he had considered giving up this search and just stay here, but he knew Ellie wouldn't have it. She wanted to find the Fireflies more than anything . Maybe they could come back when this was all over. Maybe they could bring them along to Tommy's. It was a question that reoccurred whenever he and Sophia worked in silence on the truck. He thought about asking her, but it was something that was going to have to wait, until after this "hunting game". When they made it to the storehouse, Alex was painting numbers on planks of wood while Sophia was playing around with a bow and arrow. When she the footsteps, she turned her head and smirked.

"Finally you get here! Could you walk any slower?" Sophia mocked as she put the arrow in a quiver behind her back.

"Alright, we're here. Now explain what this game is." Joel replied ignoring her taunt.

Sophia sighed as she pulled up her curls into a low pony tail and handed Joel a spare bow and quiver. Alex handed Ellie the stack of planks he was working on. He smiled at her and she looked down at the stack as if were the most interesting thing she had ever seen before. Joel saw this and raised an eyebrow. That wasn't what it looked like…right? Sophia cleared her throat, getting all three of their attention.

"Alright, this is how it works; in order to win this game, you must get more points than the other person. Points are awarded from stealth, style, and accuracy. First person to get to twenty-one is the winner, yes?"

"Sounds simple 'nough." Joel nodded as he put the quiver on his back. "But… what are we shootin' at?"

Sophia motions Joel follow and leads them through many different alleyways and streets until they were a completely different part of town. It was there, that their targets were at. There weren't that many, but it was enough to make Joel and Ellie instinctively reach for something to defend themselves with. Sophia laughed as she motioned for them to lower their weapons.

"Now, now it's alright. They are simple Runners. The fact they are like this makes the game more suspenseful don't ya think?" Sophia's eyes sparkle.

This girl had some serious issues. And may be on some kind of drug that she hides form everyone, Ellie thought and laughed to herself. Joel just shrugged and walked up next to her. This should be fun. Alex brought out an old and dirty metal table and placed it quietly in front of him and Ellie. Once they were set up, Alex instructed them to get into a start position.

"Ready? One… Two… Go!" Alex yelled.

Sophia immediately took off while Joel went behind old cars to sneak up to on the Infected. It was long before he heard a thud to the ground and looked to see a fallen Infected with an arrow shot cleanly through it rotten skull. He looked around for Sophia only to find her hanging upside down with her hair flowing freely and her shirt going slightly up, revealing her tight stomach. She then let the bow fall to the ground as she flipped down to the ground. She looked over to the judges table where Ellie put up a ten and Alex an eight. She gave her brother a look when she saw this score.

"It's because you always do that trick." He commented.

Sophia stuck her middle finger to him as she picked up her bow and quiver and started looking for another trick to do. Joel looked up from a broken window that was shattered one the rusted blue car he was hiding behind. There was a Runner in plain sight. Joel took his chance and pulled on the bow until the arrow met his stubble cheek and shot. The runner went down instantly with the arrow right in between its eyes. Alex gave him a nine with Ellie matching his score. That already made them tied. This felt like it was going to be a close call. The game went on for two hours. Sophia getting some sweet tricks shots but losing in accuracy after awhile, while Joel kept it simple and got the bastards right between the eyes every time. It wasn't until the sun was setting and making the sky different shades of purple and pink, did Joel make the final shot and won the game. The ending score was twenty-one to twenty. Joel let out a sigh of relief. Looks there wasn't going to a concert tonight. Sophia walked back to the table with a slightly disappointed look on her face but she smiled all the same.

"Well aren't you one lucky duck Joel? Well, you win and get to sleep the day away while I am quiet as a mouse. Let's hurry up and go home. I'm starvin'." Sophia yawned as she stretched up to sky.

"Make that two of us." Ellie chimed in as she handed the planks over to Alex.

Sophia giggled and leads everyone back to the house; Alex and Sophia lead the way, while Joel and Ellie trailed behind.

"Who knew you were actually gonna beat her." Ellie whispered to Joel.

"You sound surprised."

"Only a little. But at least you don't have to sing now, right?" Ellie chuckled, but there was hint of disappointment in her voice.

He then looked over to Sophia who then realized that she only picked that prize for Ellie. Maybe some of it was for her own personal reason, but he knew she did it for Ellie. As they walked back into the house, Sophia pulled out some canned fruit; looks like she was going to keep things simple tonight. They ate in a circle with an oil lamp in the center along with other candles lighting up the rest of the house. Even though they had enough generators to power their house, Sophia claimed that she only wanted to use them in case of emergencies, like when it was winter. As Sophia ate in silence and Alex and Ellie were trying to see if they could catch food in their by the other tossing it, Joel went upstairs and grabbed the faded guitar. He walked downstairs and sat in front of the teenagers. Ellie was the first one to notice and completely forgot about the little game they were playing, making Alex accidently throw one of the blueberries at the side of her head. Sophia looked up from her fruit and couldn't help but smile. Joel played each string quietly, making sure it was still in tune. When it sounded right, Joel started playing. No one said anything, but just listened to the sound of the guitar and Joel's singing. Ellie's eyes lit up so much, you could probably see them a mile away. Sophia leaned on her brother's shoulder. They listened to every word and every note as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world. When he was finished they all clapped, but Ellie clapped the most. She looked so happy that Joel couldn't help but smile. His eyes darted over to Sophia who just smiled and winked at him. As they were going off to sleep, Ellie stopped Sophia in the middle of the second floor hallway.

"Hey Sophia?"

Before she had a chance to respond, Ellie hugged her tight.

"Thanks for helping Joel and me. And for making him sing for me."

Sophia hugged her back and messed with her ponytail before breaking apart and smiling.

"That was all on him Ellie. He just needed a little help I think." She smiled before waving goodnight and closing the door.

That next day, Joel slept until the sun was high in the bright blue sky, while the others were outside playing the hunting game.


	5. Girl's Like That Stuff Too!

**Hello again! :)**

**So once again, this was supposed to be a COMPLETELY different chapter but then I noticed that it wasn't the right time yet because there hasn't been enough bonding moments soooo...**

**This chapter is mainly a lot of Alex and Ellie fluff :) I found it cute and I hope you do too!**

**Also my amateur proof reader was up today :D So yay!**

**As always I hope my OC's are doing well :)**

**I do not anything from "Last of Us" or "Finding Nemo".**

**Enjoy :)**

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"You know, sometimes I don't get you." Alex called over to her as they were searching through boxes again; it had become an unofficial hobby for Alex and Ellie ever since Joel and Sophia made it their unofficial hobby to work/look for parts for the hopelessly broken truck.

"What don't you get?" Ellie poked her head out of one of the larger boxes.

Alex chuckled as he looked over a broken compass.

"Maybe it's just me being stupid, but I guess I expected all girls to be like my sister; hyper, slightly annoying… but you're actually really calm for being… fourteen right?" He thought slowly.

Ellie nodded her head to show he was correct at how old she was. Alex nodded as he picked up a comic book that neither of them had read yet.

"Wait, how old are you?" Ellie asked when she suddenly realized that she didn't even know his age; just his name now that she thought about it.

"Fifteen." Alex replied as he started reading though the first pages of the comic book.

Now that they both thought about it, they really knew nothing about each other. All they would do is read comic books or regular books up until they heard the singing of Sophia or a very tired sigh from Joel; most of the time was caused by the singing Sophia. But they never really talked all that much and that bugged Ellie. These people took them in without a second thought and still to this day haven't asked about where they were really going, or what they were really trying to do, other than find the Fireflies, which was something Ellie spilled on accident. But they still never said anything about it. They acted they didn't hear anything, even though she could see very well in their faces that they did. That's it; she wanted to get to know these people especially Alex, who always seemed to give her this weird feeling in her stomach every time she thought about him or whenever they were too close. She slammed the box down on the table, getting Alex's attention. She turned around and reached behind her for the one special book she kept in her backpack.

"Do you like jokes?" she asked when she felt her fingers brush over the broken spine.

Alex raised an eyebrow as he flipped the comic book closed and walked over to her.

"Depends… why?"

Ellie then took the opportunity to pull out her worn out joke book. She suddenly felt nervous about telling him her jokes. While she never cared about Joel's opinion, since he always laughed at them in the end, there was something different about telling him these jokes. Would he think they were funny? Would he think she was weird? Wait, what the hell? Since when has Ellie ever cared about how someone thought about her, other than Joel, who has been a recent thing? She put her nose into the book, trying to find something decently funny to tell him. Alex stood there patiently, curious as to what she was up to. When she finally found one that might be good enough, she cleared her throat as she put the book away from her face.

"Who does the pharaoh talk to when he's sad?"

Alex thought for a moment and shrugged.

"His mummy." Ellie looked up from the book and smiled, giggling a little.

Alex tried to stifle his laughter, making a weird snorting sound that made Ellie laugh harder. He moved the stray strands of his jet black hair from his eyes and looked to Ellie while shaking his head.

"So, jokes are your thing?" He pointed to her as he walked over to her.

"Well, I needed to find something to laugh at."

"That's true. That's cool that you found something that can make you still smile… even if they are lame." He pushed her playfully.

Ellie punched him back, but it ended up hurting more than being playful. Alex chuckled and held onto his arm because of the slight stinging as he motioned Ellie to follow him to one of the boxes, where he pulled out his own book. She looked at him curiously as he flipped through the pages. She tried to look at what kind of book he was looking at but the cover was ripped off. As Ellie waited for Alex to speak, she never noticed how black his hair was or how green his eyes looked underneath the dusty light of the attic window. She started feeling heat rush to her face and quickly looked down at her dirty worn out shoes. When he finally found whatever he was looking for, he spoke up.

"You have a joke book; I had a riddle book." He shook it.

Ellie looked up and smiled, interested in what Alex did for his past time with Sophia.

"In a one-story pink house, there was a pink person, a pink cat, a pink fish, a pink computer, a pink chair, a pink table, a pink telephone, a pink shower– everything was pink! What color were the stairs?" Alex read from the book.

This seemed too easy and it showed in Ellie's face. She looked at him, wondering if he was serious about this riddle. But he just stood there with his arms folded over his chest. She snorted as she replied with her obvious answer.

"Pink."

Alex shook his head with a smile creeping over his face. Ellie raised an eyebrow in confusion. Wasn't that the right answer? Ellie thought over the riddle again, making sure to think over every word carefully. It wasn't until she remembered the words "one-story house" did her eyes light up and laugh.

"Oh wait…"

They both laughed as they started exchanging jokes and riddles for what seemed like hours. They both got each other stumped or laughing so hard at how lame some of the jokes and riddles were that they were falling over each other. Once their laughter settled and they ended up on the moth eaten couch, Alex started looking through old CD's. Ellie sat up and looked over his shoulder, reading the titles as they came. Most of them were of bands she never heard of, but she could easily tell which were ones were Sophia's.

"What are you looking for?" she asked after he went through what seemed like the twelfth disc.

"Something good to listen to. Most of these are Sophia's."

"I thought everything technology was destroyed."

"It was. Our parents decided to take it upon themselves and burn all kinds of CD's of all kinds of music for Sophia at the time…"

She hit a nerve and she knew it. Alex's eyes and tone of voice changed from the somewhat happy boy into something sad and disappointing. She wanted to ask him what happened. It was another thing that had been bugging her for some time now. How the hell did these two end up here? What happened to their parents? What happened between them? But from the way Alex was slowly looking through the discs now, made her think otherwise. Maybe this was a conversation for another day. It started to get too quiet for Ellie's liking and she quickly took the first CD Alex was on and looked over it. This snapped Alex out of whatever thoughts he was thinking about and look over to her.

"Let's listen to this." She stated as she stared at it. This CD had no title but was a deep purple color.

"What? This one?" Alex took it back, already knowing exactly what was on it.

"Yeah, why not?" Ellie shrugged, not really seeing what the big deal was.

"This isn't like the mellow piano-playing bubble gum pop music that Sophia plays all the time. This is the stuff I like. Think you can handle it?" Alex teased.

Ellie rolled her eyes as she punched him again in the arm. He was going to have a bruise for sure now.

"Oh fuck you, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm like your sister. Now play the stupid CD." She folded her arms over her chest.

Alex laughed as he went over to the stereo that ran on batteries; how it was able to last this long without getting destroyed he will never know, but he was glad it did. He popped open the tray and put the disc in. After a quick silence for it to load. The first song started playing. Ellie listened quietly, trying to understand what Alex was teasing her about. Within the first thirty seconds of the song, Ellie heard a good drum beat and a heavy guitar riff that got her foot tapping. The next thirty were of a boy singing and screaming lyrics to the song, which didn't startle Ellie or make her stop like Alex thought it would. If anything, it got her more into the song as he noticed her ponytail moving along to the beat now. Alex started mouthing the words while watching her. She was an interesting one, Alex thought to himself. After being just around his sister for all of his life, he just assumed that they were either going to be like her, or so cold to everything around them that didn't even know the definition of what a smile was. Yet here was this girl that just dropped into their town and she was unlike anyone he had ever met, which weren't very many to begin with. It made him smile that he had finally found a friend. He felt himself get the weird butterfly feeling and stood up quickly, trying to shake off the feeling. Right before the song had ended her saw Ellie from the corner of his eye reach over to the stereo and press the rewind button. That was another thing he learned about Ellie very quickly; she loved to loop the same song until it was so stuck in your head it ends up becoming your theme song for the day. After she replayed it for the tenth time, she knew all the words and started singing along with Alex to it. He taught her the proper way to air guitar the solos while he became a professional air drummer. It was the best time Alex had had in a long time. He felt his face hurt from smiling and laughing so much. Ellie looked like she was having a great time herself, which probably didn't happen for her a lot. Even if this was something that was small and stupid, he was glad that he was doing this with her. When their eyes met in mid solos they both felt the butterflies grow in their stomachs.

Meanwhile, as the sun was setting, Joel and Sophia were beginning their walk home. The truck was still far from being finished, but without the natural light the sun gave off, they had to call it a night. Joel let out a very tired sigh as he looked up at the first stars that were appearing in the transitioning sky. Sophia walked next to him, humming a song he never heard of. She was actually a lot quieter than normal today, which was something that Joel found very off. Normally, she would be singing, asking him random questions like what his favorite color was and whether or not he would ever sing for them again. But today she just hummed and did whatever Joel asked, which was a different challenge all on its own. Sophia walked beside him with her hands behind her back and her curly brown hair pulled up in a high pony tail. She kept humming the same tune over and over again until Joel found himself humming sometimes along with her, which would also make her freak out with excitement and probably jump on him. But she didn't seem to notice as she stared straight ahead. Joel finally stopped walking, making Sophia stop as well and look at him confused.

"What? Did you leave something by the truck again?"

"Are you ok?" Joel answered with his own question.

Sophia put on a big smile.

"Of course I'm ok you grumpy fish! Why?" she responded.

Joel sighed from the nickname she had recently given to him. She remembered watching some animated movie about some fish called Nemo or something… either way Sophia decided to call him "grumpy fish", since "grumpy gills" seemed weird to call him. He looked back up to Sophia who still had the big smile on her face. But this one seemed like she was forcing it. As if she was trying to be happier for him than herself.

"Yo-you just seem a lil' off that's all."

"Awww Joel you're worried about me?!" Sophia's fake smile turned into a real one as she pulled him into a tight hug.

This caught Joel by surprise as he scratched the back of his head. He hugged her back for a moment but then noticed that she wasn't letting go. If anything she was starting hold on tighter. He cleared his throat awkwardly, making Sophia back up real quick and give another smile.

"It's nothing to worry about. Just bad dreams but nothing like a good day with Joel can't fix!" she explained, "Now come on, let's hurry up before the Clickers come out."

Sophia starts running ahead of him back to the house. Joel stood there for a moment, watching her run off. Did she almost slip in revealing something she shouldn't have? He knew that those two must've gone through hell and back but he sometimes wondered what exactly happened. Sophia and Alex didn't just end up here. But they never let on about anything to their past. Sometimes he would see both of them slip up; Alex would sometimes stare off into space while Sophia would forget to have that big smile on her face. But it wasn't any of his business. He and Ellie were only here to fix the truck and be on their way to Tommy's. But as he walked to the house and opened the front door to see Alex and Ellie playing poker, with Ellie kicking his ass into next week, and Sophia taking on the role of a cheerleader, he realized that Ellie had grown much attached to Sophia and Alex. And even though it just very small that Joel didn't count it, he was attached too.

* * *

**Oh my we finally have some character development between the characters and some slight backstory going on :D About time yes?**

**Read and tell me what you think! :D**

**Until next time :)**


	6. Dancin' In The Moonlight

**Haaaaapy Birthday to youuuuu**

**Happy Birthday to you**

**Happy Birthday deeeear Luciferine!**

**Haaaapy Birthday toooo youuu! :D**

**Happy birthday girl you are completely awesome and hopefully you are well enough to enjoy your day. This chapter is dedicated to her because while I was writing this birthday chapter and realized that it was going to be her birthday... Here is your present! I hope you like it! :D**

**SERIOUSLY YOU BETTER LOVE THIS SIX THOUSAND WORD MADNESS! I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN SO MUCH IN QUITE SOMETIME SO YOU BETTER LOVE IT! (Lol jk... sort of)**

**Anyways, this chapter was easily my own favorite to write. I hope the rest of you like it as well :D**

**Sadly, the actual title for this chapter was too long so I had to shorten it. The real title is "Dancin' In The Moonlight (Sophia's Birthday Extravaganza)"**

**I own nothing except Alex and Sophia.**

**(P.S. Can you spot the hidden Disney reference?)**

* * *

Joel and Ellie were the first ones up this morning. They decided to stay in their room for the time being until Alex and Sophia burst through the door with breakfast, which had become almost like a tradition between the four of them. It was the first time they've talked and just been each other's company in quite some time. It was nice they both admit. But after getting through whatever small talk they could muster up, such as what they've been up to and how much longer it might take to fix the truck, which Ellie was secretly happy that it was taking forever and a day, Joel finally asked the question Ellie had been dreading from the moment they woke up.

"So… what's goin' on with you and that boy Alex?"

"Joel…" Ellie whined, already feeling the embarrassment creeping over her face.

"What? I'm jus' wonderin' what you two do all hours of the day." He shrugged, not sure why Ellie was acting all flustered. There was no way she could have a crush on that boy… right? I mean… look at him. He didn't seem like Ellie's type… did Ellie even have a type? Joel snapped out of his inner thoughts from the sound of Ellie's voice.

"Well, what the hell do you and Sophia do all day?" she countered.

"Fixing that damn truck?" Joel raised an eyebrow.

Well no shit Ellie, she thought to herself. Why was she getting so flustered over him? They were just friends who liked the same books and most recently the same music… even though he would give her butterflies every time he looked her. Not being to think of any clever counter, she threw her pillow at Joel, as a way to get off the subject. Joel moved his head, making the pillow hit the cracked wall behind him. He sighed and laid back down the squeaky mattress. Maybe this was one of those "girl things" that Joel had zero to none understanding about.

The door quietly clicked open, making both of their heads turn. Alex and his messy bed head poked through with a half smile on his face. Before any of them could say there goodmornings, he put a finger to his lips as he slipped inside and silently closed the door behind him. From the corner of his eye, Joel saw Ellie unintentionally try and fix her own messy hair by flattening it with her hands. He may not know exactly how that teenage girl's mind works, but he wasn't stupid.

"What's going on?" Ellie asked, feeling the sudden urge to find her switchblade.

"Shh, Sophia's still sleeping." Alex replied quietly.

"Is somethin' wrong?" Joel sat up from his bed.

"No, no I just don't want her to hear my grand master plan." Alex continued to speak quietly.

"Pardon?"

Alex rolled his eyes as he took a seat on the floor, making Joel and Ellie push off the blankets and join him in a tight triangle.

"Today is Sophia's birthday and I want to do something really cool for her this year since I never could before. Do you know how hard it is to keep something from the only other person who is with you all the time?"

Joel and Ellie had gotten a pretty good gist before they met Alex and Sophia. They both looked over at each other and couldn't help but laugh at everything they've been through, both good and just stupid. They could only imagine what those two have been through over the years.

"Her birthday? How old is she turning?" Ellie asked when she looked back over to Alex; while she didn't really understand the concept of birthday's or why people used to celebrate them, it was still something she wanted to learn about.

"Sixteen? Nineteen?" Joel took a couple of guesses.

"Eighteen?" Ellie threw her two cents.

Alex scratched the back of his head nervously. This was going to be an interesting and entertaining reaction.

"She's uh… turning twenty-two?" Alex looked around the room.

Joel's eyes opened wide, while Ellie was in such shock she almost fell backwards. He could not be serious. Sophia, the girl with the attention span of a goldfish, the energy of a squirrel on LSD, and the ball of sunlight that burned a little too bright, was not only already becoming a full grown woman, but twenty-two years old.

"You're shitting me." Ellie said in disbelief.

"Twenty-two… could've fooled me." Joel commented.

"Yes, she's turning twenty-two. As in two years and two decades old. As in that stupid Taylor Swift song." Alex rolled his eyes so hard they hurt.

"…Who?" Ellie asked in confusion while Joel shook his head of the memory of Sarah blasting that song from her room so many years ago.

"Er—nevermind, not important." Alex waved his hand to shoo the thought away, "Look, I just need your help. Joel, I need you to keep Sophia distracted for as long as possible. Do not come home until you see that moon high in the sky, got it?" He pointed to the man that half terrified him.

"And Ellie… be Ellie!" he pointed over to the girl that he thought was cute.

Ellie put her hands on her hips and smiled like she had done many times before now. It had become a trademark of sorts for her. Alex chuckled as he saw her do this; she was so cute.

"No, really, I do need your help with setting up and baking the cake."

She put her arms down and looked at him awkwardly. Not only did she not understand why people celebrated birthdays, but she also did not know what went in to making something a "birthday".

"Um…cake?"

She's heard of it once or twice from her mother and Marlene when she was younger. They had always said that it was something fluffy and sweet, and was usually something that was always served at birthday parties; as if it was the grand finale of the whole event. But it was never a luxury Ellie got to experience. Alex's mouth fell open in shock.

"You can't be serious. How can you not know what cake is? What the hell do you teach her?"

"The essentials?" Joel raised an eyebrow as if it was obvious.

"Cake is essential! Well, apparently it was considered a lie back in your—wait that's not the point," Alex huffed, trying to get his attention back on his grand master plan, "Just please keep her busy until that moon is high in the sky, ok?"

What was Joel supposed to say? No? Besides, it shouldn't be that hard to keep someone like Sophia occupied. He nodded to him, putting the biggest smile he had ever seen on Alex's face.

"You are awesome Joel! Ellie, we need to get to work once Joel and Sophia leave got it?"

Ellie gave him a thumbs up and Alex quickly retreated from their room and back to his own just in time for his sister to wake up.

"Goodmornin' Alex! What are you doing up so bright and early?" she sang while yawning.

"I thought I heard something from Joel and Ellie's room; just came from checking on them." He replied coolly.

Sophia just shrugged and didn't think anything else of it as she pulled the sheets off and took care of her morning essentials. Once she felt as refreshed as one could in a post apocalyptic situation, she skipped down the creaking stairs, with her brother following right behind her, and started the now morning tradition of making breakfast for her two new favorite people. Joel had scared her at first, he looked like he might shoot her own head off for her accidently doing it the first time they met, but after seeing that he had a little girl in tow, he didn't seem all that bad. Now, he's just her grumpy fish with a trigger finger and the thought made her smile. Ellie on the other hand was the coolest girl she ever met, plus it was nice to finally have another girl walking around. As she was cooking the eggs, she looked over to Alex, who also had a smile on his face. It was the first time they were genuinely happy since they were kids. With Joel and Ellie around, it was like they were a horribly dysfunctional family, yet it worked. When everything was done and steaming, she burst through Joel and Ellie's door like she always did. She sang her morning song, which was whatever came out of her mouth, and they all ate in a small square. They would always talk about nothing important or interesting, but it would always somehow make Alex and Ellie have a stolen moment then blush, Sophia laugh until her sides hurt, and Joel roll his eyes and apply pressure to his wrinkled forehead. Once all the breakfast was eaten, Joel and Sophia took their morning walk to the broken down truck, which was starting to have more and more problems than solutions. Alex and Ellie waved them both goodbye and looked on until they disappeared behind the hill and Sophia's voice faded away with the wind.

"Alright! Let's get to work." Alex called over to Ellie while clapping his hands together.

The teenage girl nodded as she followed behind Alex to their room. He immediately went under his bed to pull out a dusty rectangular box that looked like it once held a new pair of shoes.

"So, does Sophia usually make a big deal about her birthday?" Ellie questioned as she sat at the edge of Sophia's bed.

"Not as much as you'd think." Alex replied as he dumped the contents from the box and started sifting through them.

"Really? That's a shocker." Ellie could picture Sophia demanding whatever came with birthdays, like presents and cake; seemed like something she would do.

"I mean she used to, but after she turned twelve… it never meant anything to her anymore." Alex sighed as he started to look through the contents slower.

Once again, Ellie had hit another nerve. She felt like she was doing that a lot lately. She would mention something or question something that would make Alex suddenly distant and sad. Dammit Ellie, think of something to change the subject, she scolded to herself.

"You don't have to talk about it." She blurted out. Nice going Ellie, make it more awkward.

Alex turned his head to her and just chuckled, making her look down and blush.

"It's okay. I think it's time you learn a little… "Factoid" about us." Alex put air quotations around the word "factoid"; must be another one of Sophia's phrases.

He pushed the contents to the side to make room for him to sit. Ellie suddenly felt nervous; what if she brings up memories for him that are too painful? But when she heard him let out a deep breath of oxygen, her ears tuned in to just the sound of his voice; everything else suddenly fell quiet. The wind stopped howling and the birds stopped chirping. She wanted to know more about those two, more about him, even if she wouldn't admit to herself.

"Before all of this," Alex waved his arms around to signal the deserted town, "We used to live in a Quarantine Zone with our parents. Well it was just Sophia at first; they had me on accident. Sophia would always try and say that I was planned, but what kind of parent in their right mind would want to bring a child in this fucked up world."

Ellie felt her heart drop; so he was never meant to be born to begin with or at least, that's what he thought of himself.

"Anyway, our parents tried their damn hardest to give us a decent childhood; learning how to shoot, riding a bike, swimming, how to make a medical kit, and giving us the best birthdays they could. Because our city was one of the last ones to become overrun with the Infection, people hoarded everything which made our Zone "nicer" I guess? But anyways, because of this they were always able to give us cake and one present." Alex explained with as bittersweet smile on his face.

"That sounds really nice." Ellie quietly said her thought out loud; part of her wished she had nice memories of her parents…

"It was… but a few weeks after her twelfth birthday, our Zone was attacked by Hunters. That wasn't anything that the military couldn't handle but soon after that, we had Infected overrun the Zone. Trying to protect us, my father ended up getting bit. And while mother loved us both… she couldn't leave without him. So, she handed Sophia my, at the time, six year old self, a backpack with a few supplies, a 9mm pistol, and yelled at us get the hell away from there as fast as we could. Maybe she didn't want us to die at the hands of those things and thought we might have a better chance out there but… birthdays ended up hurting Sophia too much so she stopped thinking and acknowledging them. She had said that she needed to look after me now and can't be thinking of dumb stuff like that, but I know she misses it; it was the only time our family was truly happy. It showed that we survived another year. She probably doesn't even know that today is her birthday…" Alex wiped a tear angrily away from his face.

Ellie was speechless; at least she had Marlene when she was child. These two had no one. Her stomach kept churning as Alex told a bit of his life story. The lump in her throat was big that she felt like she couldn't breathe. She wanted to tell him sorry, but that wasn't going to bring his parents back; it wouldn't take away whatever shitty memories or experiences he had. She got up from the bed and wrapped her arms around him. She didn't know if this was going to do anything but it was better than nothing. Her heart did a skip the moment she felt his warmth through her long sleeve. Alex hugged her back, smiling into her shoulder. When Ellie finally broke away, she clapped her hands together.

"Ok, that's enough depressing stories for one day. Now cheer up or do I have to tell you another one of my amazing jokes?" Ellie teased.

"Oh no, that's ok." Alex chuckled as he looked to the side and found the paper he was looking for. "Ah, here it is."

"What's that?" Ellie looked over in the direction Alex was.

"It's a cake recipe our mother used once; I keep random little notes or sayings in this box. It comes in handy sometimes." He explained as put everything back inside the box and put it back under his bed, "Well, we better get started."

He then got up and went downstairs with Ellie a few steps behind. This should be interesting; Ellie trying to bake a cake. It couldn't be that hard right?

* * *

"Do we really have to listen to this crap?"

"Hey if I have to listen to your oldie- countryness music all day, then you can listen through my stuff!"

After being outside in the silence for so long, Sophia had the idea of bringing a stereo out so they had something to listen to while fixing the truck. It was Joel's idea to take turns with the music rotation each day they were out there. Ironically enough it was also Sophia's birthday, so he didn't complain as much as he usually did. He usually had a comment for every song that played but today he was quiet through most of it. As he worked on the engine, Sophia stood by his side over looking what he was doing. He would sometimes ask her for a tool and she would hand it over or a spare part if it was needed. Sophia started humming along to one of the songs that played quietly in the background and moving her head to the beat.

"Hey Joel? Do you want to take off the day early?" Sophia yawned.

Joel turned his head in almost disbelief. Of course she would want to take the day off the one time he needed to keep her busy. He just shook his head.

"No, we need to finish somethin' today; come on I need to find another part for the engine anyways." He tossed her one of the spare handguns he kept in his backpack.

She just shrugged and put in her back pocket while she walked over into one of the garages and grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows. They left the area of music and broken parts and walked over to the junkyard where Sophia had explained that all the cars had disappeared to. When they first found this town, they took it upon themselves to clean up, which explains the cleaned up walls and the blankets over the dead bodies. She also said that they moved the cars so they were all in one place and it would be easier to find and go through without walking to every scattered car. Joel was impressed by they managed to move all the cars in just a few weeks, at least that's what she had told him. The only problem about the junkyard was that it was a different part of town that wasn't cleared out of Infected. So the worry of Clickers came up in Joel's mind. It had been awhile since he even had to take one down. He had to admit it was nice to actually sleep with both eyes closed.

Sophia hadn't said much since this morning, which was starting to make Joel almost worry about her. It was nice to have some quiet, but it wasn't Sophia's style to be quiet. Now that he thought about it, she has been increasingly quieter ever since that night when she had hugged him. She had mentioned something about nightmares…

"Sophia?"

Sophia looked up to him and gave him a classic smile.

"Yeeees?"

"You ok? You've been quiet the past coupla days."

"I'm fine grumpy fish, don't worry. Just a few bad dreams, but nothing I can't handle." She laughed as she pounded her fist against her chest to make her look tough, but it just hurt her more than anything.

Joel chuckled and shrugged. If she said she was okay… He'll still talk to her about it. But later though, because they were right in front of the junkyard and already the sound of clicking echoed and bounced off the decaying buildings. Joel pulled out his gun while Sophia readied her bow. She gasped suddenly from the sudden bright idea.

"I bet I can knock out more Clickers than you." She challenged.

"You're cute kid, but no you can't." Joel laughed; she only had luck while Joel had skill.

"Yes I can. I beat you in the Hunting Game last time."

"By a point." Joel corrected.

"Is that a hint for a rematch?" Sophia smirked.

Before Joel had the chance to respond, Sophia ducked behind one of the rusted cars. I guess this meant there was going to be a rematch, Joel thought as he too ducked behind a rusted mint green convertible on the opposite side. Well, as long as they were doing this, he should look for that part he needed as well. While searching through cars and taking down Clickers as quietly as he could, for every one Clicker he took, Sophia took down three. There was even a instance where she got two in the head with the same arrow. She jumped up and down behind a wall in victory. Joel shook his head as he watched her. It was hard to believe that she was twenty-two today; she still acted like a child. But maybe that's because she still was in a way; she had to grow up so fast that she never really got the chance to be a kid. There had been time where Joel wanted to ask her about how she and her brother ended up here, but that would mean getting too close. He didn't want to make things harder for them when they had to take off, even though now he started wondering if he should bring them along or just stay here. Tommy would take them in if they came with them, and if they stayed here there would be nothing to worry about. But he knew that Ellie wouldn't have it; even with the these two, she was set on finding the Fireflies…

A sudden loud echoed throughout the junkyard, grabbing every single Clicker's attention. Joel's head turned sharply over to Sophia, who accidently bumped into a metal cart, making the various objects clink and crash to the ground. Sophia twirled one of her curls around her finger and looked over to Joel with an apologetic smile.

"Aw shit." Joel whispered to himself.

The Clickers made a unanimous growl and charged towards the sound, which in the end was Sophia. Her blue eyes opened wide as she made a break for it and ran towards Joel. She wasn't going to be Clicker food today. When she was within a few feet from Joel he pulled out his gun and let her run ahead before running himself. He felt the adrenaline rushing through his veins as he tried to outrun some of the Clickers that decided to chase after them. He shot a few before they got in biting distance. Up ahead, Sophia was laughing to the sky as her hair whipped behind her. How could she find this even funny or entertaining? When they finally killed the last bit of Clickers, they kept on running until they were back to the truck. Joel bent over with his hands resting on knees, trying to catch his breath; he was really starting to get too old for this. Sophia put her hands above her head as she tried to calm down her own breathing and slowing down her laughter.

"What in the hell was so goddamn funny?" Joel panted.

"I don't know," she giggled, "It's been awhile since I had such a rush!" she raised her hands into the air and started dancing when she heard the song that was playing on the stereo.

"What?" Joel asked confused.

"I mean come on! You were totally awesome with your shooting and taking down those Clickers all stealthy like! And then my awesome arrow shots! And then running away from those bastards who got a bullet in the head from Mr. Joel?! It was badass!"

Joel sighed but couldn't help but laugh at her as she danced around the truck. He then pulled out the part he needed for the truck and started working again. Just a few more hours until they could go home to whatever Alex was planning. As he listened in to the song, he realized her music wasn't as bad as he thought.

* * *

Setting up was easy. At first Alex wanted to set up everything in the back but the grass was too overgrown so they moved everything inside. They set up the few strand of Christmas lights that worked around the living room while hooking them up to one of the generators; Ellie was confused why the lights were called "Christmas" lights, so Alex mentioned he would explain that later. After hooking those up, they put out a stereo and laid out a movie next to an old T.V. that was one of Sophia's favorites. Ellie looked over the beat up case in confusion.

"What the hell kind of movie is this?"

"It was some old 80's movie that was considered one of the greatest apparently. Our mom talked about it a lot and when we were looking through houses for supplies, we found it in pretty decent condition. We finally saw it one night and she fell in love with it." Alex explained; wow that seemed like ancient times…

"I get that but what kind of title is… "The Breakfast Club"?"

"Nothing like you think. Don't worry you'll find out soon enough. Alright time to attempt to make a cake." Alex nodded as they moved to the kitchen.

"Do you even know how to cook?"

"Not a clue."

Ellie sighed as pulled her pony tail tighter. This should be a piece of cake (no pun intended). As Alex got all the ingredients out and the recipe beside him, he took off his jacket and tossed it to the side. She had almost forgotten what he had looked before he had put that jacket on indefinitely. He looked over to Ellie and motioned for her to pull up her sleeves.

"I would roll those up if I were you. You don't want to get flour or something."

She would've, but she suddenly remembered her bite and then remembered how they never told them where they were going or why they needed to get there. She pulled down her sleeve more so it covered half of her hand. Alex tilted his head in confusion.

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm ok like this." Ellie nodded to reassure herself.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Ellie wanted to tell him about the bite. He shared something to her, why not do the same? But how would he react? He seems nice and sweet right now but what if he goes all crazy at the sight and stabs her with the knife? She decided to tell him later, but they needed get making this cake. It was easy at first; putting things into the bowl mixing it, putting more things into the bowl and so on. But working with long sleeves was hard. Ellie tried to roll them as little as she could but they would always fall in a matter of seconds.

"Son of a bitch…" she would mumble to herself as she tried to roll them up again.

"I'm telling you, you should just roll them all the way up. What's the big deal?" Alex stopped mixing the cake batter, or at least that's what it looked like.

"I can't."

"Why? You're not insecure or something are you?"

"What the hell?" Ellie gave a weird look.

"What? I read that… somewhere…" Alex replied awkwardly, realizing that his question was indeed stupid in this context.

"Well no, it's not that…"

"Then what is it?"

She could trust him right? He trusted her or is starting to. If he can do, she could do it.

"… If I show you, you have to promise not to freak out." Ellie hesitated.

Alex made an imaginary "x" across his chest.

"Cross my heart."

"Ok…" Ellie took a deep breath.

She lifted her sleeve up to bicep, revealing her Infected bite mark. Alex's opened wide as he saw the boils and red scars. He looked over every inch carefully to make sure he was seeing clearly. He looked up at her and then back to the bite mark. On the outside he seemed calm, cool, and collected; inside he was hyperventilating. He slowly reached for her wrist, making sure not to freak her out. When it seemed like she was ok with it, he pulled on it to outstretch her arm to get an even better look. It looked old, like an old battle scar.

"There's scar tissue…" he mumbled to himself as he ran his fingers over the scar, making Ellie's face feel like a sauna.

"You're taking this really well." Ellie watched him look over the scar.

"You told me not to freak out. So I'm not freaking out… how old is this?"

"A few months old now… you believe me?" she asked surprised; she remembered Joel's reaction and Tess almost shot her on sight.

"Well yeah, why wouldn't I? You've been with us for awhile now and you haven't turned and there isn't an Infected anywhere near here. Plus, the scar tissue doesn't lie. But…damn that's fucking cool." Alex smiled.

"How the hell is that cool?" Ellie let her arm down when Alex went back to mixing the batter.

"You're like the savior of mankind or something. So I guess you guys are trying to find the Fireflies then?"

"How—?"

"We used to hear them on the radio broadcasts and they were the only people really looking for a cure so… But I do have one thing to say about that bite."

Ellie suddenly held her breath, suddenly worried about his reaction. He put a handful of flour in his hand and flung it in her face, turning it white. Ellie shut her eyes quickly to avoid getting it in her eyes and wiped the flour away with her sleeve before giving him a look.

"That's for thinking that I was going to murder you." Alex wagged his finger laughing.

She couldn't help but laugh and took her own handful of flour and did the same thing. Alex managed to dodge her flour attack, making Ellie only grab for more. Alex does the same and soon starts an unintentional flour war. Alex grabbed a bag as did Ellie and started hiding behind the opposite walls of the island in the kitchen while flinging flour at each other, while making some of fall into the bowl with the batter. Ellie kept laughing and laughing until her sides were aching. Her auburn hair turned white along with parts of her clothes, while Alex had gone from normal to the image of a ghost. It wasn't until his bag was a quarter empty did he wave his white hand in surrender. Ellie poked her head up when she heard the bag fall on the counter. Alex stood up still laughing as he wiped away some of the flour away from his face.

"I didn't really think that through…" Alex coughed.

Ellie shook her head and white powder few out into the open space.

"That's what you get for taking a cheap shot." Ellie pushed him lightly.

"Alright alright, you win. Now, let's hurry up and clean up this place and finish the cake!" Alex urged when he saw the sun setting; he hoped that Sophia liked this… she had to.

* * *

The truck actually made some real progress. Not enough to get it up and running by tomorrow but still progress. As he was making the last finishing touches of what he could, Sophia was leaning up against the wall of one of the houses, singing quietly along to one of the songs playing on the stereo. After getting through the bubble gum pop songs, Joel noticed go into more a alternative sound, with a guitar and bittersweet lyrics. Joel always found him trying to hear her sing but she never loud enough to actually hear. Sophia was too embarrassed to let Joel hear her sing, mainly because she thought she sound horrid. When Joel finally looked and saw the moon high in the sky, which was actually a bright full moon, he looked down to Sophia and held out his hand.

"Come on, we should be getting' back now."

Sophia just nodded and took his hand as he helped her up. She dusted the dirt off the back of her shorts and started walking beside Joel. She looked up to the moon and sighed. He was being really nice to her today. He usually gets annoyed with her music or the way she acts, and he normally would've had her head for acting that way with the Clickers. So what gives? She stopped walking, making Joel look over his shoulder.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"…Alex told you it was my birthday today didn't he?"

Joel took a step back, trying to act surprised, but Sophia saw right through it. He was a horrible liar when he wasn't trying. When Sophia put her hands on her hips, Joel sighed and nodded guiltily. He felt like he was being scolded by his mother… or Ellie, although he didn't know which was worse.

"He went through a lot of trouble trying to put this whole thing together for you. So don't ruin it for him." Joel said, trying to make the situation better, which suddenly felt heavy with tension.

"He knows I don't care about my birthday anymore…" she looked down, trying to escape the memories of her mother pushing her out the door.

Joel took Sophia's hand in his, making her look up. He looked different… maybe it was because of the moonlight, but he looked almost sad for her. He kissed her hand and put it back to your side.

"Even if you don't, you should give it a chance. He spent all day working on this."

Sophia sighed and nodded. He was right, Alex was trying to give her something that she hadn't had in awhile and with Joel and Ellie here… maybe this birthday will be better. She then put a big smile on her face and linked arms with Joel as they walked back into the house. All of the lights were off except in one room. They opened the door and walked into the living room to find Alex and Ellie in the middle of the large area with white Christmas lights strung up along the walls and the stereo playing quietly in the background. They were both smiling, but Alex's was by far the biggest. She noticed that there was some white powder in their hair but didn't bother to ask. She was still in amazement by the way the room looked. It gave off a warm feeling. Alex stepped away from Ellie and gave his sister a big hug.

"Happy Birthday Sophia." He said into her shoulder.

She hugged him back and felt so touched she could cry. But instead she smiled and ran over to the stereo to turn up the music. She then started dancing along to the beat. Alex soon joined in by taking a hold of Ellie's hand and having her dance along with him. Joel tried to hang back against the wall but as soon as those pair of blue eyes land on him, he knew he wasn't going to have much of a choice. She ran over to him and made him dance with her. He was very bad at it, but he did his best, like he did with Ellie and the jukebox. Alex would always look over to his sister whose smile seemed to get bigger and bigger. They would switch off partners and dance for awhile longer until the CD was over. Then they all moved to the kitchen, which also had small remains of white powder on the table and floor. Alex then brought out a lob-sided cake with a candle in the middle. She laughed at it, but it wasn't to make fun of; it was because Alex even went as far as to make a cake. They sang her happy birthday, along with Joel playing the guitar, and told her to blow out the candles. The only wish she made was that she and Alex could be with Joel and Ellie forever. After eating the cake, which was actually good considering, Alex told her that he one more surprise for her. He turned on the T.V. and the move "The Breakfast Club" appeared on the screen. Sophia was so excited she almost jumped out of her shoes. Joel laughed as picked up the case as he thought back to when this movie first came out. Damn did he feel old. Ellie then decided she wanted to have a birthday of own soon, seeing that it was actually really "fucking awesome" as she put it. Alex pressed play and they all sat on the couch. Halfway through the movie however, Alex and Ellie knocked out, leaving only Joel and Sophia to finish it. They laughed quietly and felt the pain of the characters on the screen; well mainly more of Sophia than Joel. When the credits started rolling she looked over to Joel, who was starting to drift in and out of sleep.

"Hey Joel?"

"Hm?" Joel grunted.

"Thank you for the awesome birthday." Sophia chuckled.

"It was more of your brother than me."

"I know but you helped so… thank you."

Joel nodded and quickly fell asleep. Sophia reset the movie and watched it until she fell asleep halfway through herself. It was the first time she was ok with having a birthday. And she would keep being ok with, as long as she had Alex, Joel, and Ellie to share it with.

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**Awww well isn't that an overload of fluffiness! Also, I have no idea why I called this chapter "Dancin' In The Moonlight" but it was inspired by the song "Dancin' In The Moonlight" by Toploader if that helps?**

**Reviews are always loved :D**

**Until next time :)**

**(P.S. Did you spot the Disney reference I made on accident? I blame you... you know who you are... Dx)**


	7. Splash of Fun

**Hello again :D**

**Ok here's what happened. This was supposed to be uploaded this morning... but I re-RE- discovered K-pop... it was a fiasco. But ANYWAYS! Here's the next chapter of Alex and Sophia awesomeness!**

**I own nothing but Alex and Sophia! (I hope they are still to your liking :D)**

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Today was going to be the hottest day of the summer; Sophia could feel it in drooping curls. She almost didn't want to cook breakfast this morning it was so hot. Alex decided to hook up the A/C to the generator for a while so that way the house could cool down just a little. Joel and Ellie kicked off their blankets the second they woke up and felt the sweat forming in the back of their shirts. When Sophia came through the door, she held a tray of cold water, bowls of fruit, and a small stack of pancakes; yeah, she gave up trying to make a complete hot meal when she felt the heat of the fire in combination of the heat from outside on her skin. But no one really minded. Alex and Ellie began talking about music; or rather Ellie asked questions about what kind of music Alex liked. Joel and Sophia both mutually decided that they weren't going to work on the truck today; looking outside and seeing the heat wave in the distance sealed the deal. When they were finished eating, they sat there in sweaty silence. They needed to find a way to cool down. Alex had to turn the generator off to save power and already the heat melted inside, destroying the cool air. Sophia put up her hair as she looked over to her brother.

"Why must you turn off the air?"

"We need to make sure we have enough juice to last us through the winter." Alex said annoyingly.

At the sound of the word "winter", Ellie looked over to Joel. Were they going to still be there by then? Joel looked back outside toward where the heap of hot metal lay. If they didn't get done by the time the first snow fell, they would have to stay here all the way through the season, and while that didn't seem like a bad thing to both Joel and Ellie, they still had a bigger task at hand. Sophia growled as she fell back onto the hot carpet. There had to be something they could do in order to cool off. Sitting in shade was not going to help this time, even with the cold water. She opened her eyes and looked over to Alex with a sudden I-just-had-an-amazing-Sophia-idea face.

"What?" Alex gave her a look.

"Do you remember that pool of water that was underneath that old high school building?" her smile grew bigger.

"Yeah, what about—ohhh." Alex's eyes lit up; of course, how could they have forgotten about that wonderful pool of water that also turned into their own personal ice skating rink? Yeah, that had it pretty good here considering all the shit they went through before this.

"We should go swimming! It's the perfect time! What do you say Mr. Joel?" Sophia sat up.

She expected smiles and an excited cheer from Ellie. She expected applause for what she thought was a genius idea. But Joel stayed silent as he looked over to Ellie, who was staring intently at the ground awkwardly. Sophia's smile faded and she tilted her head. Did she say something wrong? Did Ellie have a bad experience with water? Was she allergic? Wait that's a stupid question, Sophia thought as she knocked on her head lightly as her own kind of punishment.

"What?" She finally asked.

Since Ellie didn't seem like she was going to say anything, Joel sighed and spoke for her.

"Ellie… doesn't really know how to swim."

Both Sophia and Alex's eyes opened wide while Sophia leaned up close to Ellie, who looked like she was blushing out of embarrassment.

"What do you mean you don't know how to swim?!" she gasped.

"I do! …Sort of…"

"I tried teachin' her once, but it was cut short." Joel explained, thinking back to the first time he tried teaching her, and the Clicker that made them run.

"Well… we could teach you!" Sophia smiled, "I taught Alex how to swim."

"Yeah, by throwing me into water and yelling "swim, swim!"" her brother rolled his eyes.

"But you know how to swim now right?"

Alex just shook his head.

"That's not the point; Look either way, you kind of know how and that's good. The water isn't even that deep anyway, so as long as you know how to float and doggy paddle, you're golden." Alex smiled, trying to reassure Ellie.

Ellie bit the inside of her lip as she tried to focus on something other than Alex. He was always cute when he tried to be comforting to Ellie when it came to things that she didn't know about. She looked over to Joel who was sweating like a dog. Well… it couldn't hurt to relax in water for the day. It beats staying cooped up in this oven of house anyway. With a slight nod of the head, Sophia jumped up in excitement as she ran back to the room. Alex gave another smile and also retreated from the room.

"You sure you're ok with this?" Joel asked when the two left; from the time Marlene dropped her on him, she always avoided water as much as she was able. For her to suddenly want to be near water was not like her. He thought it might've had something to do with Alex, but he decided to not ask. The last thing he needed was another pillow to the face.

"I'll be fine. Besides it's better than staying here… but where did they go?"

"Probably gone t' change."

"…Shouldn't we too?"

Sophia suddenly burst through the door and tossed a set of clothes to each of them, immediately answering Ellie's concern. Ellie received a white tank with red shorts, while Joel got a white T-shirt and dark blue shorts. Sophia smiled widely as she motioned for Ellie to come with her.

"No peeking!" she slammed the door.

Joel sighed heavily and proceeded to change. It's not like Ellie was actually going to stay there with him while he changed. Jesus. As he unbuttoned his shirt, the door opened again, revealing Alex this time. He smiled awkwardly, waving his clothes.

"Sophia kicked me out and told me to come in here and change." Alex said quietly; Joel scared Alex more than any Infected could.

"Knock yourself out." Joel shrugged as he continued to change.

Meanwhile, after being dragged into Sophia's room, Ellie moved her wrist around where Sophia tugged; for a girl who didn't look like she could hurt a fly, she had tight ass grip. As she stripped down to her underwear, Ellie changed awkwardly in the back. It had never occurred to her that hasn't changed in front of another girl. She looked over to Sophia who actually had a nice body, minus the cuts and bruises. Some looked old and faded, while some looked recent. She even noticed some burn marks and a horrible gash on her shoulder. Sophia's blue eyes behind her and Ellie turned away, replacing her worn out jeans for the red shorts, which were much shorter than she had anticipated. Sophia laughed quietly as she ran a hand down the gash.

"I got this a few years back when trying to save Alex from some Hunters. It healed alright without any kind of infection but it left a really nasty scar. I try to keep it covered up as much as possible; before we found this place, looks were sometimes the vital key in whether Alex and I slept on an actual bed safe, or at the mercy of the Hunters."

Ellie felt almost embarrassed about being caught. She never meant to bring up something bad.

"I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for? You didn't give this to me. Besides, it doesn't bother me anymore. I like to think of it as a battle scar, because once you name it battle scar it automatically becomes sexy." Sophia winked as she pulled over her tank top which was a soft pink.

Ellie laughed at that and started taking off her two tops, starting with the short sleeve. Before taking the bottom one off, she stopped suddenly. She had showed Alex her bite, but not Sophia; they were too busy with her birthday that she got the chance. As Sophia pulled up her drooping curls in a messy pony tail, she saw her friend's hesitation.

"What? Do you have scars of your own?"

The teenager nodded hesitantly.

"Well let's see it then." Sophia put her hands on her hips.

No response came from Ellie as she looked to her arm with the bite.

"Oh come on don't be shy. Battle scars are sexy remember?"

Ellie sighed as she started pulling up her sleeve, revealing the bite mark. Sophia wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Why would she? She showed her arm to the now twenty-two year old (which was still hard to believe). Sophia looked down and her eyes opened so wide, Ellie was worried they were going to pop out of her head. She pulled her arm and looked closer. That was a bite from an Infected, she was sure of it. But it looked like it was healing, for she noticed he scar tissue. It looked old and the mutation stopped fairly after being bitten. She then ran her fingers over, very much like Alex had. Sophia then smiled and patted it gently.

"Now this is something to be damn proud of."

"Huh?" Ellie asked, dumbfounded on how she too, was taking this.

"Come on; you got bit by an Infected and lived to tell the tale. That's so badass!" Sophia jumped with joy, before putting Ellie's arm back to her side and smile softening. "I know that whatever story is behind how you got that bite is a nasty one but things will get better. You have Joel now as well as me and Alex." She kissed Ellie's forehead, making her blush out of embarrassment; like what an older sister would do to her younger sibling.

There was loud banging on the door, making both of them jump.

"Would you two hurry it up? I'm dying out here!" Alex groaned, while Joel chuckled a little bit.

Sophia giggled before putting on Ellie's tank for her and opened the door. She pulled her by the wrist again as they ran downstairs and out the door to meet Alex and Joel, who had already started walking to the clearing. When they both caught up, they immediately formed into their natural block; Alex and Sophia walking in the front, leading the way; Joel and Ellie following behind. The walk alone to the old high school made them sweat through their clothes. Joel was used to this heat somewhat; days in Texas were hotter than this sometimes, but this was ridiculous. Thank God Alex and Sophia took care of the Infected that were in this town. Ellie took a closer look as they neared the old high school. It looked like it was once a large building with two floors. Old papers, rusted chairs, and various bags covered what used to be a parking lot. Since the roof was torn off, she could see some classrooms that were still intact; they all looked the same. A dirt covered whiteboard and rows of desks. Ellie snorted at the sight. She sometimes wondered what school would be like, but if it was anything like the pathetic excuses of schools they had at the Zone, then she was glad that they were extinct. They followed their companions inside the building and walked down the left hallway before getting to large clearing, which used to stand three classrooms. What it was replaced was a pool full of water, that looked only a few feet deep. A little bit of the sunlight shined through the grass as pieces of foliage grew along the walls. Sophia squealed with happiness as she immediately ran and jumped into the water. When she resurfaced to wiped the stray hair out of her eyes and smiled as she waved to the other three.

"Well hurry up the water is fantastic!" she dived back under water.

Alex looked over to Ellie and jumped in himself, followed by Joel who just sat at the edge before sliding in. Ellie looked down at the semi-clear water and stuck her foot in. It wasn't warm or bitter cold. It actually felt nice and refreshing on her skin. She looked over to Joel who was floating on his back, Sophia who was constantly diving and resurfacing when she needed air, and Alex who was standing up in the water. She didn't realize that he was staring at her until she met his dark green eyes. She bit the inside of her cheek and looked back at the water. If he could stand up, and he was a few heads taller than her, then she could probably handle the depth of this water no problem. She sat down at the broken concrete edge and let both her feet into the cool water. She swung them back and forth, while watching the others enjoy the water. It was relaxing at first as she breathed in the fresh air of the outside. She loved being out here more than anything, and probably more so if there was the chance of dying at the hands of a Clicker. She then heard the water move and saw Sophia staring straight at her before sinking slowly back down. She saw her figure swimming closer and closer to her feet, and Ellie quickly pulled them out, already knowing her intentions. She surfaced with a sad look on her face.

"Come on Ellie, the water isn't going to bite."

"It's not the water I'm worried about."

"Ohh I wasn't going to pull you in if that's what you were thinking. Joel would've killed me if I did something like that." Sophia whispered the last part as she watching Joel float on his back, staring up in the cracks that revealing the cloudless blue sky.

Ellie chuckled in semi-agreement; while she didn't think Joel would kill someone over her as of now, he probably would get mad at Sophia for almost drowning her. Either way, Ellie put her feet back into the water and slid from the edge. The water felt a little cooler as it ran up her sides and flowed through the fabric but it wasn't freezing cold like the time Joel tried teaching her to swim. She walked through the water enjoying how cool and nice it felt on her skin as the heat from the outside surrounded her. She then felt something splash on her back making her turn to see a guilty Alex and Sophia. A smirk formed on Ellie's face and dipped her hands in the water and moved them up quickly to make the water over them. Sophia dived back into the water quickly, making Alex take the full impact. Alex closed his eyes as the water hit his face and even spit out the few drops that wormed their way into his mouth. Ellie laughed as she saw Alex blink his eyes quickly and slick back his hair. Just like the "flour incident", as Alex likes to call it, they began to start splashing each other with the water, laughing every time they got a cheap shot. Joel could hear their laughter, but was muffled from the water that covered his ears. He then suddenly felt a wave of water on his face, making him sit up quickly and coughing, for some entered his mouth and nose. He looked around but only saw Alex and Ellie in the middle of their water war. But Sophia was nowhere to be found. His brown eyes narrowed as he searched the below the surface, trying to see if she was lurking in the corner somewhere. When he turned back he saw her, standing in the position of how a statue would in a water fountain. Her hair was covering one eye and her cheeks were puffed up. Before Joel could ask or say anything, Sophia spewed out the water from her mouth and onto Joel's face. She smiled and relaxed her body while Joel wiped the excess water away. Seriously how was this girl twenty-two? Joel's only response was to splash water back at her, but she dived back under quickly making the droplets hit the open air. She then swam around him and jumped onto his back, clinging onto him like a monkey. Joel tried his best to keep his balance but Sophia kept moving side to side, which made Joel slip and fall into the water. Ellie was the first to laugh followed by Alex when he saw his sister's big smile, and Joel highly annoyed look, which became his normal face after spending so much time with Sophia. Alex quickly ran, or waddled, over to Sophia to help her avoid Joel's wrath. (Even though they were very sure he didn't have wrath when it came to them). Ellie watched them and smiled to herself. While she was pretty sure all of them came from broken stories; Sophia's "sexy" battle scar, Alex's strange cuts that were on his arms and legs, Joel's broken heart, and Ellie's bite, they were still able to wake up and survive with a smile on their faces. They were starting to become so close, that she considered them family; except for Alex. He was in a different category all on his own. Sophia motioned for Ellie to come over and then spent the rest of the day swimming and splashing around, until the sun started to set. As they were walking back dripping wet, even with the towels draped over them, Ellie still had a smile on her face. She couldn't wait to go swimming again. Maybe when they find the Fireflies and all of this was over, she would let Sophia teach her how to swim like the "mermaids" Sophia kept talking about after awhile. Maybe when all of this was over, they could either come back or bring them along. Either way, she couldn't wait to spend the rest of her days with Joel, Alex, and Sophia; her new family that she was not going to let die on her this time.

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**Reviews are always nice :)**

**This chapter does have a really big foreshadow at the end. What that means well... you'll just have to wait, read, and see :D**

**(P.S. I got the chapter name from a "Little Mermaid" figurine I got a few months back xD; Just a cool factoid I thought you should know!)**

**Until next time, yes? :)**


	8. Fireworks

**Could it be? Is this really happening? Guess who's finally back after a two month long disappearance!? :D I know long time no see and I'm sorry about that. Right when the hiatus hit, school started and work gave him crazy hours, but never fear! I have returned! Now enough about me, let's get to reading!**

**Please forgive my proofreading Dx Brother was at school and I did my best ok?**

**I own nothing; Just Sophia and Alex.**

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How could he let her talk him into this? No matter how hard he tried to talk her out of it, her mind was set and she got everything up and ready for, as she called it, "the cutest moment of both your lives", but how in the hell was he supposed to lead into that? He wasn't very keen on stuff like this, namely because he never had the chance to. It was always survival, survival, survival. But the second his sister suspected something was up, she began interrogating him every night since the hunting games. He would try and pretend that he was asleep, but she would just throw things at him until he responded. He thought back to last night, where this whole plan was hatched in the first place.

"_Seriously Alex, what is going on with you and Ellie?"_

"_Nothing I already told you. We just hang out, read comic books, and listen to whatever music you have lying around."_

"_Ok, so the blushing and stolen glances at each other are just nothing?"_

"_Uh, yeah. Now can I go to sleep?"_

"_Not until you admit that you like her." Sophia smirked._

"_I don't." Alex simply responded as he slowly put the photos that they had taken so long ago under his pillow._

"_Yes you do."_

"_Do not."_

"_Do too."_

_Alex sighed as he sat up and looked over to his sister who was staring right at him. He did start to have feelings for her of course. Even though they still didn't have one of those weird romantic moments where they talk about their lives or whatever, he knew what she liked to read what her favorite music was and… damn it. Sophia started getting a big smile on her face as she threw her pillow at him._

"_Oh my Jesus you DO like her!" she almost squealed._

"_Sophia, please don't start. It's nothing ok?"_

"_It's nothing?! Come on, my brother finally gets a crush and I'm not allowed to be excited about it?" Sophia sounded surprised._

"_Exactly. Now let me go back to sleep. You have to get up and work with Joel on the truck. Oh, and don't even get me started on what I think about you two always being together."_

"_I don't have anything with him. Besides, we all know that if I really tried, he would fall for me in a heartbeat." Sophia joked as she flipped her hair._

_Alex just shook his head as he watched his sister. Whether there really was something Sophia felt for that man she would never let on to save her life. Plus, the way she acts could mean anything. But after everything she's been through with Alex over the past few years, he was almost positive that she lost all interest in love and trying to find someone to be with; and honestly, he was ok with that. Besides, it looked like Joel was more annoyed of Sophia than anything. But he would never know. After sometime of silence he heard her start humming a song from one of the CD's their parents managed to save before the outbreak. He knew that song all too well, and at first was annoyed with it, but after it being played five hundred times by Sophia, he just got used to it, and even started to like it a little. She stopped abruptly and jumped out of bed and jumped on top of Alex's. He let out a yell of shock from the sudden weight shift and weight gain he felt on his stomach. He shoved her off him and glared._

"_What the hell Sophia?!" he whispered loudly; he didn't want to wake Joel and Ellie… namely Joel._

"_I have the perfect idea to get you guy's closer."_

"_Sophia, please don't." Alex whined; he regretted ever telling her._

_She rolled her blue eyes as she got more comfortable on his bed. _

"_Ok fine. How about a way to get you closer as friends? I mean, how much do you know about her?"_

_Alex stayed silent._

"_Exactly, SO think of this a cute bonding moment with your best friend or whatever ok?"_

"_What are you thinking?"_

"_Show her the fireworks."_

"_What?"_

"_We still have that tape. Just go and search through the boxes until either one of you stumble on them and then show her and… it'll be the cutest of both your lives I swear!" Sophia squealed as he felt his face change color._

Her last response echoed throughout his mind as he watched Ellie look through boxes curiously. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He started looking through boxes himself, finding some supplies that Joel and Ellie might need when they… leave. Alex quickly shook his head. Don't think of anything sad. They are still here.

"Hey Alex, you ok?" Ellie finally asked after noticing he was more quiet than usual.

"Oh, me? I'm fine don't worry, just a little tired. Sophia kept me up late last night." Alex shrugged, trying to keep his cool… or what little he had.

Ellie made the same motion and went back to looking through the boxes, trying to find something else worth her interest. Alex wanted to slap himself. If he didn't breathe a word to his sister, this whole thing wouldn't be happening. He wouldn't be feeling like he was going to throw up. The butterflies in his stomach were fluttering rapidly; his heart was beating faster with each passing minute. She looked so cute looking through things; kind of like a curious and lost puppy. The way she would blow the stray strands of hair out her face with that slightly annoyed look made him laugh to himself. Alex sighed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Damn it Sophia, why did you have to bring this into the full light? He was fine with the stolen glances and brushes of their hands when they both reached for the same things.

"Hey, what's this?" Ellie's muffled voice called out as she dug through a rather large box.

Alex snapped out of his internal monologue and walked over to the box Ellie stuck half her body into, standing on her tip toes. She then pulled out a smaller and worn out box of old firecrackers, sparklers, and ruined rockets. She had found them; Alex felt his palms get sweaty.

"Oh, those are fireworks… well the rockets are anyway." He responded calmly.

Ellie looked over one of the rockets with a confused look.

"Fireworks?"

"Yeah," Alex chuckled as he took the rocket from her, "they were these things, normally rockets, which people would shoot up into the night sky and explode into all these different and bright colors. They were loud and big and really awesome to look at…" He explained as he ran his dirt fingers over the faded words that were once scribbled across the side.

Ellie laughed as she stared at him, who looked like he was entering Nostalgia Land.

"So… you've seen these before?" she spoke up.

Alex snapped out of his memories and laughed nervously. Could he be anymore fucking awkward? He cleared his throat before continuing.

"Uh, no not in person; my father had recorded a fireworks show for my mother one year when she was too sick to get out of bed. They saved the tape to show us when we got older so we could see them, thinking it was something everyone should see at least once… we still have it… y'know if you want to see it." Alex finished nervously, trying to keep his breathing normal.

Ellie thought about this for a moment before quickly nodding her head. These fireworks sounded cool and she couldn't help but feel slightly excited. She left the room first in the midst of her slight excitement as Alex went to find the tape. He also took the only box of sparklers that still looked decent and could light. He began rummaging through the boxes, trying to find that tape; Sophia had hid it in one of these boxes earlier this morning but he couldn't find it anywhere; she was hiding a tape not treasure. Alex finally sighed with relief when he felt the hard rectangle brush his fingertips. The sun was setting now and the first fall breeze flowed through Alex's shirt, giving him sudden shivers. He gripped the items hard in his hands as he walked back towards their house. He was really not good with this stuff. The only other girl he would consider having feelings for was more for benefits like drugs and late night activities. He felt himself shudder as the memory of Sophia finding out what he was up to entered his train of thought; she had kicked his ass into next year. That girl, who Alex had forgotten the name of, never cared for all that cute pre-adolescent crap; she was straight and to the point. He always remembered her saying, "If I'm going to die tomorrow, I might as well have fun and not giving a shit before I do." At the time, he didn't understand why she was like that, but the four year age difference might've had something to do with it at the time as well; he was an idiot… and scared. Damn was he a stupid thirteen year old. At first, that's how he thought relationships were supposed to be. It was either that or nothing at all, like how Sophia did things. But Ellie was different. She made him feel different; almost like an actual teenager. He never got butterflies in his stomach like this before; with anyone for that matter. The thought of that made him smile as he opened the door to their safe house. Ellie was lying on the couch with her feet up, reading the most recent edition they had found of "Savage Starlight".

"So did people light fireworks all the time? I mean, just for the hell of it?" she asked without looking up from the page.

"No they didn't; apparently people used them for special occasions and events like New Years and the Fourth of July." Alex replied with slight surprise that she even noticed him she looked so focused on the page.

He then went to the T.V. that they hadn't bothered to put away since Sophia's birthday and started to hook up the wires so the tape could be played and heard.

"New Years?" Ellie asked in a puzzled voice.

Alex started to laugh again at her, making Ellie's cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh at you. I don't blame you for not knowing either; it's not something people really talk about or want to remember I guess." Alex apologized with still a giggle in his voice. "Anyways… back then, people would celebrate the coming of the New Year. They would throw big parties and they would count down the last ten seconds to midnight and then shoot off all kinds of fireworks in honor of the New Year. I guess they saw it as a new beginning; a chance to reinvent themselves for the better… or some kind of crap like that."

Ellie made a face before rolling her eyes and looking back to the page she was on.

"I swear people were so fucking weird back then. It's bizarre how they thought celebrating the New Year was a good thing. It would be just another year."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." He chuckled in response as the blue light from the now working T.V. illuminated the room.

Ellie closed the thin paperback book and switched off the dim lamp, giving the room a deep blue glow against the increasing darkness. Alex patted the spot next to him on the floor while pressing play on the remote that surprisingly worked on the first try. The room went completely dark for a moment as the tape played, showing fast movements of the camera trying to focus in on a specific spot. Loud music, laughter and chatter came flooding out of the T.V. speakers. Ellie raised an eyebrow as she watched the screen while Alex leaned back, supporting his weight on his hands. It was still dark except for the dim lights from street lamps and headlights from passing cars. Suddenly somebody started counting down and everyone jumped in quickly, counting loudly in unison. Ellie could feel herself get a little excited as they get closer and closer to zero. If they were as awesome as Alex claimed and as pretty as she had already pictured them to be, then they had to be beautiful. With the final number everybody started cheering, waving noisemakers in the air and passionately kissing their loved ones in corners of the screen. But before the first firework could pop into the night air, Alex suddenly hit the pause button. Ellie turned her head sharply to him with an upset look.

"The fuck Alex?"

"Hold on hold on, I almost forgot something." He chuckled as he looked around the dark room.

His eyes scanned the room carefully, trying to remember where Sophia had left it. When he finally saw the glint of blue bounce off on the object he was looking for, he smiled and reached over for it. He then sat back down next to Ellie and slipped a pair of worn out headphones over her ears. His fingers brushed the side of her cheek, making them burn; thank God for it being pitch black.

"Watching them to this song makes it even better. My dad also did the same thing for my mother."

Alex then pressed play on the T.V. and the old CD player at the same time. Ellie quickly turned back to the screen as the song played loud in her ears. The beat and the lyrics matched perfectly. At first it was just small strings of light with small pops here and there. Then they started to get a little bit bigger and bigger until one burst into the air with a loud pop and shooting red streaks. Ellie's eyes lit up as more and more popped and burst next to the black sky. Colors of white, blue, green, purple, pink of all shapes and sizes burst into the screen in time with beat of the song that was still playing in her ears. Alex couldn't help but smile at her. It was the first time he had ever seen her in genuine wonder and innocence. He looked back to the screen to watch the rest of the show, singing the song in his head. He suddenly felt weight on his shoulder and turned to see Ellie leaning on his shoulder as she continued to watch the show. He felt his heart beat fast and the feeling like his stomach was going to explode. But without even thinking about it, he rested his head on hers and somehow, it fit perfectly. When both the song and the video finished, Ellie leaned away from and slipped the headphones off to hang around her neck.

"That was fucking awesome! What song was this by the way?"

"I thought you would like it. That song is called "Firework" by Katy Perry; it's the only song that I can tolerate but Sophia loves her." Alex quickly remarked in order to defend what little manhood he had left after being alongside Sophia for so many years.

Ellie laughed as she leaned her head back to stare up in the blue black darkness.

"Yeah, ok Alex." She said in between giggles.

Alex rolled his eyes and shoved her away, but couldn't help but laugh with her.

"Man, I wonder what those would be like to watch in person." Ellie sighed as she looked back at the blue screen, already remembering what the colors looked like dancing on her hands.

"Well, while the Great Alex and Sophia can't give a personal fireworks show, we do have something as a compromise." He smirked as he pulled out the box of sparklers.

Ellie rolled her eyes at the comment of "Great Alex and Sophia" and looked down at the box. She smiled wide, almost wondering if the poor lightning was playing tricks on her tired brain.

"Are these…?"

"They're not as cool as fireworks, but sparklers are really pretty to look at. It's almost like having a tiny firework in the palm of your hand."

"Did somebody say sparklers?!" an all familiar chipper voice suddenly squealed.

Alex and Ellie almost jumped out of their skin as both snapped their heads their heads towards the front door. How long had Joel and Sophia been standing there? They didn't even hear the door open to begin with. Sophia was swaying from side to side smiling right at her brother. He knew that smile all too well. It was her I-told-you-so-and-now-look-at-the-cute-moment-I've -created-for-you smile. Alex looked away from her and noticed Joel leaning against the door with an unreadable expression, which made him feel more scared of him than usual; like Joel caught him doing something with his daughter. But Sophia quickly pushed him out the door into the night, saying something that neither Ellie nor Alex could hear but it was something to make Joel give an annoyed sigh.

"Well, I should've known that Sophia would come running at the word "sparklers". I'll go get the matches."

Ellie got up from her spot on the floor to join the others while jogged in to the kitchen to fetch the small twigs that somehow created light and warmth. Once outside, he handed each of them two sparklers; the girls grabbing them with excitement and Joel just holding them, waiting for them to be lit. Although Joel never made any comment about ever seeing them or how long it's been since he's seen them, Joel was somewhat happy to see something genuinely innocent from before the world turned to shit. Once they were lit, Sophia immediately started dancing around with the sparklers, while reciting the Katy Perry lyrics. Alex and Ellie watched theirs with amazement, sometimes waving them in circles to watch the sparks fly, with Ellie having a huge smile plastered on her face. Joel watched his intently, as if remembering one of the few good memories of his past, for he had a small nostalgic smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"'_Cuz baby you're a Firework!_" Sophia sang out, hoping someone continue the lyrics.

"_Come on let your colors burst._" Alex sang in a lower octave, making Sophia smile like it was her birthday all over again.

"_Make 'em go-" _Sophia sang while holding her palm out to Joel waiting for him to sing the next part of the song.

Joel sighed heavily as he looked over to the all too excited young woman. He could claim that he didn't know the next part of the song and pass but Sophia kept playing that song over and over again that he knew it forwards and backwards. He gave her a look as if to skip him but she just outstretched her hand more, making him roll his eyes. At least the next part wasn't too bad.

"Oh, oh, oh." He said flatly, which made Ellie giggle and Sophia make a disappointed face.

"Oh come on I know you can do better than that Mr. Joel. When we get to the part again you shall sing with feeling!" Sophia raised her sparkler into the air as she continued the song.

Joel just shook his head as he went next to Ellie and continued watching their sparklers in silence, while Sophia grabbed her brother to dance around and continue to sing.

"See? What did I tell you? I am a genius." She whispered to Alex as she watched the last sparks fly off into the soft breeze.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Alex waved her off, not wanting to show her that she was indeed a genius.

For when Ellie looked up from her dying sparkler she smiled at him and he felt himself smile back and his stomach flip. And for once, he didn't blame it on bad food.

* * *

**Whoo~! Cuteness to start us back on track. As I said before I'm very very very sorry I've been gone so long, but I do plan on uploading as much as I am able. I have been handwriting everything so far so it's not like I'm at square one again. I have a few chapters for each story as well as some one-shots! So some good stuff coming soon! I will be updating all my stories as soon as possible, INCLUDING "Finding Ellie". That is being worked on I promise.**

**I hope you didn't forget about me! Dx**

**Reviews are always loved!**

**Until next time (It won't be too long I promise! Dx)**


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